No Matter What Happens
by LadySlytherin007
Summary: Hermione has been given an ancient source of power crucial to Harry's success against Voldemort.RomanceSuspense HGRL. ..IGNORE POOR GRAMMAR IN FIRST FEW CHAPTERS, STARTED THIS 4 YEARS AGO!
1. On the Hogwarts Express

**IMPORTANT A/N: I started this story years ago, and recently got back into fanfictions. Because I was barely 15 when I started this, a lot of the early chapters are not written in ways that impress my 19 year old self. SO I am going through and copying the chapters into my computer, redoing some of the wording, and replacing the chapter documents. The story isn't changing AT ALL... I just want to tidy the words and phrases up a bit. (I.e where I'd mix up then/than, or effect/affect, or accidentally leave out a verb...) R&R!**

This is going to be a great year," Hermione Granger said sarcastically to Ron and Harry as they sat together in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express. After getting caught in the rain on her way to catch the train, getting her shoe's heel caught (and consequently broke off) in the steps to the train, and having to chase her backpack's contents across the ground after dropping it, Hermione gladly collapsed onto the seat across from the boys after sliding the door tightly shut behind her.

"Nah it won't 'Mione," Ron started, "after all, we're 7th years! Nothing can screw that up." Hermione was glad that she and Ron had been able to get past that little relationship they had had and remain best friends. The breakup was mutual; they just both agreed that it was too much like dating a sibling.

"Ya," Harry jumped in, "We're going to make this a year that we'll all remember forever."

"As if that hasn't been the case every year?" Hermione quipped.

"Here, here!" Ron said, toasting with an imaginary glass. Hermione rolled her eyes, but a smile crossed her face. She really didn't know what she would do without these two. Feeling much better, she kicked off her shoes and laid full length across her seat.

"So, what did you two do this summer?" she asked.

"Well, I decided to spend most of the summer with Ron, but not after spending a couple weeks with the Dursleys. It's so funny; they're scared to even look at me! I'm going to miss that." Harry said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "What about you?"

"Well I…" she started.

"What, am I not in the room anymore?" Ron joked. After they stopped laughing at the expression on his face, he filled them in on his summer. "Well Harry, before you came over," he said, throwing a wink in Harry's direction, "one night I was alone at home. Yup, the Burrow was empty except for me, which was eerie enough. But it was a dark and stormy night," he paused at his use of cliché, then shook his head and continued. "I went to the kitchen to find something to eat, and no I'm NOT completely helpless Hermione. I made myself a peanut butter sandwich that could compete with Mum's." Again, he paused for their laughter. "When I looked out through the window in the kitchen, I could have sworn I saw a set of eyes glowering at me." Harry stifled another laugh at the concern on Hermione's face. Ron ignored him, and continued on.

"Yeah, it was right scary. So, being the brave man that I am, I pulled my wand out prepared to fight whatever or whoever was out there. As soon as I had drawn my wand, I heard it. A scratching on the window. Not like a tree branch, but a deliberate scratching, as if it were trying to grate on my nerves. I waited, and it stopped. Now, I hardly believed that it was gone, so I settled into a chair. It must have been an hour I waited, but then I heard it. A knock on the door." A bolt of lightning shot through the sky outside as if on cue. "It was soft at first, but then the pounding grew more, and more, and more fierce and loud. It got to a point that I thought it was going to knock the bloody door down. So, I decided to confront it. Wand at the ready, I put my hand on the door knob, and………" he gulped for dramatic substance. Hermione was leaned as far forward as she could be and remain in her seat.

"Yes, what happened?" she all but squealed in worry, her brow deeply furrowed.

"And then….."

"Rroooooaaaarrrrrrr!" Something burst through the door of their compartment screaming.

Hermione jumped a mile high and screamed in turn at the top of her lungs. Something swooped her up, and she was completely disoriented. She heard Harry and Ron laughing though, and decided to face her captor.

"Professor Lupin?"

He managed to croak a "sorry!" out in between fits of laughter. He sat her back down. By now all three BOYS were in hysterics. "But you should have seen the look on your face, or heard your scream. Classic!"

After only a couple seconds, her mind put 2 and 2 together. "You mean you were in on this…. this trick?" she was trying to give the impression of being annoyed, but was failing miserably. After a moment, she was laughing just as hard as they were.

"Well, I'm supposed to be sitting in on the prefects and Head Girl/Head Boy meeting, and I think I'm late, so……" Lupin started.

"OH NO! I'm Head Girl! I forgot all about it!" Hermione gasped. "Come on, we've got to go!" And with that, she grabbed Lupin by the arm and drug him out the door and down the hall. After all the time that she spent with him, Sirius, Ron, Harry, and Ginny at Sirius's place over the years, she didn't feel awkward at all in doing this. This was the first summer that they hadn't spent there actually, but Dumbledore thought it would be best if they returned to their own homes for their last summer before school. No worries, they would spend all of their breaks together at Grimmauld Place.

Arriving at the door, she dropped his arm and attempted to catch her breath. He opened the door for her, and she walked in as all of the prefects stood. She nodded at Draco across the compartment. They had come to an understanding last year after they were told they would be Head boy and girl that they would do everything they could to try and get along. So far it had been working. They weren't best chums, but they could tolerate each other and treat each other civilly, at least in front of people. Remus took a seat just inside the door, and the meeting began.

After about 30 minutes of filling the prefects in on their duties and becoming adjusted to the authority of being Head Girl, they adjourned the meeting. She stayed behind to gather her things, and Remus waited on her. She smiled at him, and without thinking twice about it, she hugged him. She turned quickly and headed back to her compartment. "Now that's odd," she thought to herself as she felt a slight blush cross her cheeks. "Why am I blushing? It's only Remus." _Remus. _That's what she called him in her head, but she had yet to out loud. By the time she had reached Harry and Ron, they were scurrying to gather their things; Hogwarts was in sight. Pushing all other thoughts out of her mind for the time being, she gathered her stuff as well and joined the conversation about who would win the annual "First night back Wizard's Chess tournament" that night that all of the Gryffindor boys looked forward to all summer long.

X X X X X

Remus still stood where Hermione had left him, deep in thought. Something felt different between them then it used to feel. Hell, it had felt like this for almost two year though. What was it? He couldn't place his finger on it, but he knew something for sure. When her arms were around him, he never wanted her to let go. "What am I talking about?" Remus said to himself, "She's a student, I'm a teacher. She's young, I'm…. older. It's just my imagination, I'm sure. It's probably just because I missed not seeing her and all of the other _kids_ this summer. Yeah, that's it." He reassured himself with a grin, "nothing to worry about." The whistle blew, signaling that they had finally arrived. He scurried back to the compartment he had previously been sharing with Severus Snape. Merlin, he loved pestering that man! With a more confident smile, he mind shifted to planning how he could annoy Severus in the next 5 minutes.

**Ch 2 coming soon, please R&R! **


	2. A chat

**Nope, still don't own anything in this except for the plot!**

**NOTE: the italicized words are their thoughts, and I think it's kind of self explanatory as to who is thinking what. There's a certain part though that goes back and forth between their thoughts, I hope it's not hard to follow!**

As they stepped off of the train and gathered their belongings, the rain poured and the wind howled. "Now honestly," Hermione began, "is it a rule that it must always be a miserable day when we get here?"

"I think that they do it to scare the little ones," Ron said. " I mean, what's scarier then bad weather, a trip across a lake with Merlin knows what in it, greetings from Hagrid and Fang, seeing the castle for the first time… Ouch!" Harry's hand smacked him across the head. "What was that for?"

"I think her question was supposed to be rhetorical, you twit."

"Oh, right."

Hermione sighed. Another whole year left, what was she going to do with these boys? They grabbed their stuff and headed towards a carriage.

"Hey Hermione, what do you think you're doing?" Draco held out his arm as she passed him. "You have to ride with me and the prefects, remember?" She stared at him blankly, and then her memory came back to her. She waved good-bye to Harry and Ron, promising to meet them in the Hall. "Geez," Draco mumbled under his breath, "to supposedly be the smartest witch in the school, you are a complete ditz." She rolled her eyes at him and followed him to a large carriage where the prefects, and surprisingly, Professor Lupin, were waiting.

"Umm… hello everyone." She cast a glance around to all of the attentive faces. Taking the only empty seat, (which was between Remus and Draco,) she continued. " We've already covered the plan for what needs to be done when we arrive at the castle, and we already told you when our next meeting is. Does anyone have any questions?" She scanned ever face. "No? Well, there's really nothing more I can think to tell you. Draco?" she asked, turning towards him. "Can you think of anything?" He shook his head, and looked distractedly out the window, as were some of the prefects.

She decided that everyone must miss their friends that they'd been away from for so long. She voiced this opinion, and got affirmative replies in return. They hadn't started on their way to the school yet. So, as her first official act as Head Girl on Hogwarts grounds, she freed everyone to go back to ride with their friends. Relief seemed to sweep through the carriage as everyone promised to check in with her before the night was over. As everyone filed out, Hermione found herself lost in thought. This was her very last year at Hogwarts. What would she do once she graduated? Where would she go? She knew she wanted to go to a University, but which? And with who? She didn't realize that they had started moving until someone cleared their throat.

"Ughhmm…" Professor Lupin purposely coughed. Hermione looked up, slightly bewildered. "Ah, I knew that should get your attention. If you haven't already noticed Miss Granger, we've started moving. I fear you will have to suffer this ride with me instead of the rest of the mob," at this he waited to see what her reaction would be. She laughed, but remained seated next to him. He had expected that she would move to sit in the aisle across from him since they had the entire carriage to themselves, but he couldn't say he was disappointed that she remained. In fact, she seemed to relax as she snuggled down into the seat.

"I'm sorry Professor," she giggled, " I must not have been paying attention."

"It's quite alright Miss Granger. But can I ask, what was it that you were thinking so hard about?"

"Oh, nothing important. Just my future," sarcasm dripped from her mouth. "Honestly, Professor, I don't know what I'm going to do!"

"Really? I would have thought a bright young witch like yourself would have figured all of that out by their 3rd year."

"Well I had, but I've changed my mind so many times that I, I just don't know anymore." He noted the seriousness in her eye, and laughed inside. He knew that she had no reason to worry, but she obviously didn't. On the outside he remained as solemn as ever.

"Hermione, you will be fine. You're perfectly capable of doing anything you want to. And plus, you have an entire year to decide!" She nodded her head in acknowledgement. Then it hit her that he'd used her first name. A faint blush crept into her cheeks, but to herself she blamed it on the concentration and hoped that he hadn't noticed.

However, he had noticed. _She's blushing._ _Why would she be blushing? Did I say something wrong?_ These thoughts ran through his mind and he intently watched her as she fidgeted with a button on her school robe. _School, oh right! _"Oh by the way," he began. "We're having a new program at school this year. Obviously the Head of the House is in charge of each house as a whole. But the Heads were getting rather swamped by trying to keep up with every person in their house's grades, social lives, ect. So this year, we are going to try something new." At this he paused. He seemed to have her attention; her eyes were glued to his face. He continued, "They're called HA's, or Hogwarts Advisors if you'd rather spit out those syllables. Each student has already been assigned a HA. Now, the students go to their HA's with their problems with grades, or with fellow students, anything in the world. Every teacher in the school is a HA, and…"

"Ooooh Professor, do you know who mine is? And why was I not informed of this situation?"

He laughed at her sudden mood swing between excitement of getting a HA to defensive of her position as Head Girl. "Well, to answer your second question. You were not told because Albus wanted it to remain a secret, from ALL students, including Head boy, girl, and prefects. And to answer your first question, your HA is none other then Severvus Snape."

"What? Are you serious, he hates me!" Panic flashed across her face.

"No I'm not serious. It's actually me." He was a witty man and he simply couldn't help it. Mischief shone in his eyes, and he laughed as she did.

"Really? Oh this is wonderful!" She threw her arms around him for a quick hug that lasted a couple seconds longer then she had intended it to. _Drat_, she thought. _Why'd I do that?_ She continued on as if nothing of the sort had crossed her mind. "So, professor Lupin, you're my HA. Ha-ha-ha." She emphasized the laugh then burst out into a fit of giggles. She was truly hyper by this point.

"Yes, Miss Granger, I am. I'll have you know I had to fight long and hard for you!" he said playfully.

Her eyes danced with joy. She forgot her shyness and leaned back on his arm that was propped on the seat behind her. "Professor," she said slowly. "This means we'll be spending a lot of time together. And if we are to spend a lot of time together, I must insist that you call me Hermione, not 'Miss Granger.' Even through all the time we've been around each other in the past years, you've yet to purposely call me by my first name. After all of the late nights we would all spend in the den, outside, in the library, in the kitchen even. Playing games, and cards, and telling stories, and remembering past adventures, the little bit of formality remained…." She said this half seriously, and half jokingly.

He considered her proposal, and nodded in approval. He never ceased to be amazed at her maturity.

" I completely agree with you, Hermione. But, I think this should go both ways. I will no longer respond to you calling me "Professor Lupin" or "Professor" unless we are in class. Anytime outside of class when we're together, I expect you to call me Remus." His arm was going to sleep under Hermione's head, but he dare not move it. He was too comfortable, and she had unconsciously snuggled closer to him.

"Really? That is to say, do you really want me to?"

"Really and truly."

They sat there for a couple of minutes in silence, each lost in their own train of thought.

_He smells so good_.

_She smells so good. _

_He's so comfortable._

_This is so comfortable. _

_Wait, what am I doing, this is Professor Remus Lupin…..!_

_Wait, this is a student, Hermione Granger………!._

_Who cares, I'm just sitter here and I'm cold, yeah that's it._

_We're just sitting here like old friends. She probably has sat like this a million times with Ron and Harry._

_I can't have feelings for this man._

_I can't have feelings for this young woman.._

_But I think I do._

_But I think I might.._

When they arrived at the front doors of Hogwarts, they both stood up and stretched, smiling at each other. Remus stepped out of the carriage first, and then naturally offered his hand to help Hermione down. A little taken aback, she took his hand and allowed him to help her down. They found their things, and stood a moment with each other as students and teachers seemed to swarm in every direction. Hermione saw Harry and Ron about 50 feet away and could tell they were looking for her. She turned back to Remus and smiled. Maybe it was just a schoolgirl crush. She didn't think so, but if it was, she vowed to make herself realize he was nothing more to her then her friend, and her HA.

"Alright Hermione, I suppose I will talk to you later. Come by my office tomorrow sometime when you're free and we can go over your schedule and remember, not a word about HA's to anyone, until after it's officially announced, deal?." _I want to go over more than that with you, _he thought_. NO REMUS, stop that. She trusts you to be her friend and her mentor, so get a hold of yourself. You're an old man in her eyes for Merlin's sake! Not to mention a…. were-wolf… _He came back to reality at the sound of her voice, a new sadness in his eyes.

"Alright, I will come by and I promise to keep my mouth shut. Bye-bye,"she paused, "Remus." He brightened at the sound of his name on her lips.

"Goodbye Hermione." He winked at her, and she gave him a smile that sent shivers down his spine. He firmly told himself that he would not let these feelings continue. He would put a stop to it, he just didn't know how right now, but he would figure it out. She had turned to join Harry and Ron, and after he made sure that the three of them had made their way into the castle safely, he turned his attention to helping the first years avoid getting tramped by the older students.

**R&R, Ch. 3 hopefully will be out this weekend!**


	3. Fireside Feelings

**Still don't own anything but the plot! R&R please! I promise the plot is going to develop more BTW.. this is all just leading up to the complications later!**

Upon reaching Gryffindor Tower, the trio was relieved and dropped their bags dramatically.

"Ok guys, I'm starving. Let's go get good seats for dinner." Harry said.

"Can we at least put our things in our rooms?" Hermione demanded more then asked.

"Whatever 'Mione, just hurry up."

Hermione normally wouldn't care about getting to her room right away, but this year was different. She got her own room since she was Head Girl. Behind a large portrait of a full moon was a passage to her room. It was hers and hers alone, complete with its own password protection. Bubbling over with built up excitement she mumbled the password. The moment she stepped through the door, her jaw dropped.

A room about half the size of the Gryffindor common room was decorated lavishly in reds and golds. A small kitchenette was off to the side, and it matched the rest of the room perfectly. Large plush couches and chairs, a massive fireplace, and 4 large bookshelves (that she made a mental note to check as soon as possible,) and 2 doors. She discovered that one led into a bathroom, so she assumed the last was her bedroom. She was right. Expecting things to still be red and gold, what she found surprised her. The room was big, but plain. Dull furniture, covers, walls, floor, everything. It looked as if it were designed a hundred years ago and had not seen life since. Huffing in annoyance, she pulled out her wand and was about to do what she could to decorate the room properly. Before she could do anything though, the room changed on its own. It turned various shades of purple and green, the colors she had always wanted to do her room at home. The furniture had turned from decaying wood into wrought iron and glass. It only took her a minute to realize that the room could read her mind; it changed to suit whatever she desired at any moment in time. To test her theory, she closed her eyes and imagined a room of pink and yellow, with birds and butterflies and girlyness. When she opened her eyes, it looked exactly as she had imagined it would. With a shudder, she immediately changed it back to her purple and green. She wasn't a tomboy, but that had just been way too much girlyness. She hurried back to the Gryffindor common room to meet the boys.

"What took you so bloody long?" Harry joked.

"I'll show you later, let's eat."

And with that, the three of them headed down to dinner.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Professor Lupin was seated in the Great Hall with the rest of the teachers. As the room began to fill, he found himself looking for a certain 7th year girl. When he spotted her coming in the doors with Harry and Ron, he relaxed a bit and watched them take their seats.

He jumped into conversation with the other professors about the next day's lessons so that he would seem fine. But inside, he wasn't. His mind was fighting a fierce battle about Hermione, and it was wearing him out.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Dumbledore got up and proceeded to give his annual speech. The sorting of the 1st years started, and the Sorting Hat took its sweet time as always, making the 1st years wriggle and sweat. Soon everyone was being dismissed. Hermione led the way for the new Gryffindors and told them the password to get past the Fat Lady.

The 7th year boys quickly began their tournament of Wizard's Chess, and the girls gathered in groups to catch up on the past months. After hours of celebration, complete with goodies from Fred and George and kegs of butterbeer, people started to disappear into their rooms. Hermione didn't feel like going to bed, but she didn't feel like staying up talking with the other girls or watching Wizards Chess. So, she decided to patrol the halls. As she walked, she found herself lost in thought again. Thoughts of the future, thoughts of the past, and thoughts of the present. Thoughts of places, things, and people. _Of a certain person_. She rounded a corner and then suddenly ran into someone, the very object of her deep thoughts. She thanked Merlin that it was dark enough that her crimson blush couldn't be seen.

"Why hello Hermione," Lupin began, after rubbing his arm where she had just plowed into him. "Fancy seeing you here." She could see his smile was warm and playful, even in the dim light.

She laughed heartily. "Why hello Prof…. Remus. I couldn't sleep, but I didn't want to talk to the girls or listen to the boys yell about chess either, so I decided to take a walk."

"Oh, yes. A stroll through the halls is quite the workout. I myself couldn't sleep and decided to walk, and here I am." He paused and then asked, "So, do you like your new rooms?"

"Remus I absolutely loved them!" she exclaimed. "Have you seen them?"

"No I haven't, but I've heard that the Head dormitories are supposed to be amazing, even compared to the common rooms."

"They really are. Come on, I'll show you!" as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. She had just invited a male teacher into her dorm room as if it were the most casual of things to do. She was about to apologize, when he agreed.

"All right. How do we get there?"

"Well, umm… the only way I know so far is through the Gryffindor common room," she began, "but…."

"Ok, lead the way."

"But Remus, don't you think people will be suspicious when they see you stroll into my room in the middle of the night?" her eyes were full of laughter at the thought, but her question was nonetheless earnest.

"Ah, but they won't see me. Invisibility spells are wonderful. So, you just go on in and act normal. I'll follow you in. Ok? And then I can floo out." He turned himself invisible.

They made their way back to the Fat Lady and Hermione way promptly let in, and Remus quickly followed. Hermione was relieved to see that the common room was empty; everyone must have gone to bed. She went to the picture of the full moon and whispered the password.

Remus, however, was taken aback by the portrait. Dumbledore had mentioned to him that the Head girl and boy rooms' entrance portraits were supposed to relate to their deepest desires. And while a full moon could symbolize other things, (he supposed) it gave Remus chills nonetheless.

Once inside her rooms, Remus quickly took the invisibility spell off. "Wow, this really is amazing!" he said.

She gave him the tour, and he laughed at her purple and green bedroom. She felt somewhat awkward having him stand in her bedroom though, so she quickly re-directed him to her living room. Remus settled into a big red couch, and Hermione paced in front of the enchanted fire.

"So, as my first act as your HA, it would make sense for me to inquire about your feelings about your classes. However, I know that you're fine in that area, and to be honest I don't feel like talking about schoolwork. So I am going to instead ask you what has you so deep in thought that you have already begun to wear a spot out on that rug?"

"I'm sorry," she said as she clapped her hands together in mock sincerity, "I should be a better hostess. Would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine. You still didn't answer my question though. What are you thinking about so much?"

She couldn't very well say she was thinking about _him_. And she was a terrible liar, so coming up with something creative at that particular moment wasn't going to happen. So instead, she insisted that she was fine and joined him on the couch. They often sat on the same couch back at Grimmauld Place, never thinking twice about it. _But now_, Hermione thought, _it feels different._ She had no excuse to get up and move to a chair though, and she didn't want to offend him, so she stayed where she was.

Remus noticed that she still avoided his question, but he didn't press the matter. What was he doing here anyway? If it had been any other student, he knew he wouldn't have come. But it was Hermione, the girl who had been on his mind constantly for a very long time. He knew he should leave, but he couldn't make himself do it.

They talked about many things, laughing frequently. They had always enjoyed each other's company, and still did. Neither of them noticed it, but throughout the enthusiastic discussions, they had scooted closer to each other on the couch. They didn't realize that they were merely inches from each other until they're conversing paused.

The fire illuminated them both. They caught each other's eyes, and the flames could be seen dancing in them. Slowly, but unmistakably, they leaned towards each other. There were warning bells going off in both of their heads, but the pounding of their hearts drowned them out. They kissed. A very shy, hesitant kiss. When they separated, they searched each others eyes. Seeing excitement and hunger, they leaned back in for another kiss. Remus had one hand in her hair and the other was around her waist. She had one around his neck and the other on his cheek. The kiss deepened. Neither of them had ever felt this feeling before. Remus moaned, sending shivers down Hermione's spine. She opened her mouth, giving him access. After a few more minutes, they pulled back, both out of breath.

"Remus," she began slowly, "did we…"

"Shh…." He interrupted her. "Don't think too much right now. The only thing that needs to get out right now is this: You have to tell me if you felt that too, or was it only one sided? If it was one sided, then I will declare myself an idiot and we can get you a new HA because I'm sure you would feel awkward around a man who…" he was rambling now.

It was her turn. "Shhhhh…" she smiled and snuggled into his arms. "I did want this. We'll think about details later."

Relief swept through them both. Remus kissed her on the forehead, and they fell asleep in front of the fire together. What they didn't realize though, was that they were being watched at that very second.

**YES, I know, this all kind of fell into place. But I promise the plot is going to get more and more complicated as time goes on! and YES, i know this was short and to the point, sorry:( bear with me, and hopefully by the end you readers won't be disappointed!**


	4. Caught or not?

I do not own anything or anyone in this story except for the plot!

Not HBP compliant

Not long after Remus and Hermione had drifted off to sleep, a certain Headmaster and taken the liberty of checking on the Head Girl. Professor Dumbledore peered through his fireplace, his only intention being to speak with Hermione if she were still awake. He felt it in everyone's best interest for him to know what was going on in the school at all levels, and it made his job a lot easier if he could get information from the Head Boy and Girl from time to time.

If anything, Dumbledore was expecting to see a dark empty room. If that were the case he would simply go to bed and hope to chat with Hermione in the morning. Such a bright witch she was. He knew she would make them all proud one day. He knelt by his fireplace and straightened his glasses on his nose. What he saw shocked him. Not only was Hermione curled up on the couch asleep, but there was another body, a male's body, curled up with her. After many moments of observation, he decided that the sleep was only that; sleep. He would have to have a word with Miss Granger in the morning about miss-using her privileges. But teenagers would be teenagers, and 7th years would be 7th years. With a sigh, the ancient professor readied himself for bed while remembering his own glory days.

At 5 am, Albus Dumbledore awoke and prepared for the day. By 6 am, he was sitting in his office reading. He decided to check on Hermione again. He hoped she was awake. This time though, instead of peering through the fireplace, he chose to floo into her living room. In just under 2 seconds and with a puff of green smoke, the professor found himself standing in front of her fireplace. She and the mysterious boy were still sleeping. He first thought of returning to his office. But Albus Dumbledore was as curious of a man as he was intelligent and powerful. All three of these characteristics were fighting for control at that moment. His curiosity won; he just had to find out who this boy was!

So Prof. Dumbledore snuck to the couch as quietly as he could. He leaned over and saw the face of none other then Remus Lupin. It was all he could do to refrain from shouting in shock. He bit his tongue and crept back to the fireplace. He turned for one last look at the sleeping people. It was then that Remus turned his head as if waking up.

The curtains in the room were drawn, so it was still fairly dark in the room. Dumbledore froze where he was in an awkward position. One hand was raised, as he was about to throw the floor powder, the other hand was on his knee which had a tendency to pop and creak. When Remus moved as if he were waking up, Dumbledore hoped that the man would fall back asleep and not notice him there. He thought he was safe, when he heard a groggy voice say, "Albus?"

Forgetting that he held floo powder in his hand, Dumbledore did the first thing that came to his mind. His eyes still huge, he began to wave his arms around mystically, like waves or like snakes, and jump around. (Well, jump around as best an old man could.) His performance was similar to that of a deranged chimpanzee. In a voice that he felt was appropriately mysterious he said, "This is a dream……….. you are asleeeeeeeep……………." All the while he was doing his interpretive dream dance. He knew that if this didn't work (which it probably wouldn't) he would have to erase this moment from Remus's memory or face the repercussions of it forever.

Fortunately enough for him though, Remus just nodded his head and went back to sleep. Dumbledore, shocked that the trick had actually worked, remembered the floo powder in his hand, and floo back to his office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At 7 am, Remus got up. A vague image of Dumbledore danced across his mind, but he pushed the image away as a dream. He stood up, stretched, and looked around. He knew it simply wouldn't do to have him come out of the Gryffindor Tower at this time in the morning, so he decided to floo back to his room. Hermione looked so comfortable and peaceful lying there; he didn't want to wake her. So, he kissed her lightly on the forehead and left her to sleep.

Back in his room, Remus jumped into the shower. Normally he would be in and out within 10 minutes, but today he found that his mind kept wandering to Hermione and last night and so it lasted nearly 30 minutes. When he finally stepped out, dried off, and got dressed, it was time to head down to breakfast_. What's wrong with you, Remus_? He asked himself. He sighed and headed toward the Great Hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione awoke at 7:15. She stretched, and sat up groggily. "Remus?" she asked, looking for the man. "Where are you?" No response. She spent a couple minutes looking for him, but to no avail. She got a quick shower, got dressed, apply a little bit of makeup, and fix her hair.(In the past couple of years she had discovered it was better to embrace her curls rather than try to brush them straight.) By this time, Hermione was doubting that the night before had been real. _You Were_ _exhausted yesterday,_ she thought. _And you had spent most of the previous days thinking about him……….. was it a dream?. What would he see in you anyway? And if it WAS real, he would have at least told you goodbye, left a note, something. _She sighed heavily. It seemed much more realistic than any dream she'd ever had if it were only one. So, she contented herself by saying she would look for him at breakfast. She could sort things out then.

Just then she heard a pounding on the other side of the painting in the Gryffindor common room.

"Hermione? Are you up? Come on, we've got to go. Hermione?….(thud, thud, thud) HERMIONE?"

"I'm coming boys!" She rolled her eyes and sighed as she grabbed her bookbag and headed out to an impatient Ron and Harry. She took each of them on an arm, (which was a common way to see these three at any given point in the day) and the trio set out for the Great Hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Remus decided to hang out at the entrance to the Great Hall, hoping to catch Hermione before she got seated. As she rounded the corner with Ron and Harry, she caught his eye. She could tell that he wanted to talk to her, so she told the boys that she needed to go to the restroom.

"Aw, Hermione? Didn't your parents ever teach you to go BEFORE you leave?" Harry joked.

"Well, if my room hadn't suddenly came under attack this morning, I probably would have had time to." She shot back. "Just go on and save my seat, I'll be there soon."

Seeing as there was no point in arguing, both boys continued to the Great Hall. As Hermione had been talking, she had noticed Remus trying to catch her eye again. He started to lose patience and without thinking he waved his arm around wildly. When he noticed there were other students and teachers in the hall, he dropped his arm as if scratching his back. When he succeeded in getting her attention, she watched him point to a classroom and then he went into it. When she was free of her friends, she turned, walked to the room, entered, and closed the door behind her.

The classroom had once been used, but obviously hadn't been in some time. The only lighting was coming from the large window at the far side of the room. Remus was sitting on one of the desks and gazing out this window as he waited for Hermione. When he heard the door close, he got up and walked over to her.

"Hello." He said with a grin as he took her hands in his.

"Hello." She replied. _So last night really wasn't a dream!_

"I'm glad you got my message to meet me in here."

"Well, it would have been hard to miss since you were practically having a come apart over there."

"Was not."

"Were so." They both burst out in laughter momentarily, before reminding each other they needed to be quiet so they wouldn't get caught.

"So, why did you tell me to come in here?"

"Well, for starters, I never got to say bye this morning since you were asleep. I didn't want you to think that I just left you, I would never do that."

Hermione was getting more excited as the seconds ticked by.It was one thing to be with this man at night, when sleepiness or the dark atmosphere could tap into certain senses, but this was broad daylight, and all of the feelings were still there.Along with the excitement came more confidence. "Well, since you didn't get a proper goodbye this morning…." She wrapped herself around him, kissing him as fully as he had her last night.

_She is a natural._ Remus thought and he enjoyed the moment. After an unknown length of time, they pulled out of the kiss, but sat down on the desk still in each other's arms.

"Remus, why did you leave so early this morning?"

"Well love, for one it wasn't early, it was 7 o'clock." (she slapped him lightly on the arm at that.). "and two, would you honestly have wanted me to wake you up? I'm not a morning person, are you? And thirdly, I had a rather disturbing thought in my mind and I needed to try to decide if it had been real."

"What disturbing thought?"

"Well…." And he proceeded to tell her about the Dumbledore experience from the previous night.

"Was it a dream or was it real? Because if it was real, we could get in a lot trouble!" Hermione's face was showing more and more fear as her mind processed the possible results.

"I'm not sure. In all honesty it seems as if it were real. I tell you what. Today I'll talk to Albus the same ways I always do. If he brings it up, then he knows. But if he doesn't, we'll assume it was a dream and he knows nothing. Because if the Headmaster knew, surely he would say something right? Right."

"Ok." She said, but her voice didn't sound relieved. "We're going to have to be very careful, you know that right? I mean I doubt something like ThAT happens again, but still…"

"Hermione, aren't you forgetting something? I'm your HA. It's expected that we spend a lot of time together, especially since you're a 7th year."

"OH YA I forgot!" She threw her arms around him. "But what about you're other HA students? I mean, aren't you anyone else's HA? Harry or Ron's, someone's?"

He didn't pull her off of him, but he didn't initiate anything more either. Sadness filled his eyes. "No, I have nobody else. Dumbledore is Harry's, obviously in order to prepare him to face Voldemort. Minerva took an interest in Ron, perhaps because of her long time relation to the Weasly family. Besides that, I doubt most people would be comfortable spending time with a werewolf." he said bitterly.

"Well, I expect to spend a lot of comfortable time with this werewolf. I think the natural essence is extremely sexy." She whispered seductively, and he smiled.

"Well, I'm glad of that then. OH, do you know what we've forgotten? You're bodyguards."

"Harry, Ron, oh no! We've been gone for forever!"

"Alright. I don't know if we can get away like this again today. We'll see each other when you get to DADA today, but remember in front of people we're nothing more then friends, student teacher, HA and advisee. If we can't get away again today, then meet me here tomorrow morning before breakfast again. Promise?" he held out his pinky in the muggle oath binding.

"Promise." She linked pinkies with him. He pulled her close for one more quick kiss.

"Bye 'Mione."

"Bye Moony." He howled in response, and she winked at him as she turned and walked briskly out the door and headed towards the Great Hall and the Gryffindor table. He waited long enough for her to get seated before coming in himself and sitting at the teachers' table.

"Bloody hell Hermione," Ron exclaimed. "What took you so long? Harry's almost done and I'm already on my 3rd plate!"

"Sorry guys, you wouldn't understand."

"What wouldn't we understand? We're your best friends, we know you better then you do." Harry said with a mouthful of bacon.

"No guys, really….."

"Hermione Granger, you better tell us what took you so long." Ron said in mock- anger.

"Fine, if you really must know, girl problems. You see when I got to the restroom, I noticed that I had…"

Both boys started blushing and choking on their food. "Ok ok fine you're right. We don't want to hear about THAT." Ron stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"Right." Harry said, this time with a mouthful of eggs.

"I told you." She tossed them a carefree smile and dug into her breakfast. _Glad they bought that. _

Meanwhile, Remus was sitting at the teacher's table between Dumbledore and Servus Snape. Breakfast went on as normal, and Remus was beginning to believe that the entire Dumbledore thing had been a dream. They all talked and laughed; carried on as they did during every meal. He decided that they were in the clear, and that Dumbledore hadn't the foggiest idea of the situation.

Dumbledore, on the other hand, was considering the events of the previous night and that morning continuously. His first instinct was to confront Remus and Hermione; student-teacher relationships were far from acceptable. But, perhaps this situation was different. Merlin knew that Remus needed a companion, and Hermione would be turning 18 soon, 19 if you counted the time turner's affects. And she had always proved herself to be mature for her age……… his thought was interrupted by none other then Remus.

"Why Albus, you've been staring at your plate for a full……… 5 minutes and 47 seconds. What has your mind so engulfed?"

He looked Remus square in the eye. Albus was a perceptive man, and try as Remus might, he couldn't hide all of the apprehension in his eyes. At that moment, Dumbledore decided to let the little situation of Remus and Hermione remain between the two (or really the three) of them. He felt as if hecould trust them, and he hoped that they would eventually come to him for consultation. Until that moment however, Albus Dumbledore would play dumb. Instead of being directly honest or directly dishonest, he instead brought up another point that had been on his mind almost constantly since the previous school year.

"Oh, nothing's wrong, Remus. I was only contemplating the reality of this year. Do you know, this could be the very last year of Hogwarts, and the magical world, as we know it? It all falls on how the Battle turns out." He smiled faintly. He was a hopeful man.

All Remus could do is nod. The only thought that ever broke the constant ones of Hermione were those of the Battle, and the results, and the aftermath. He decided to push this from his mind, and to turn his thoughts back to the recent light of his life.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When 1pm rolled around, Hermione found herself nervous about entering the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Knowing that the most she had to worry about was remembering to call her lover "Professor," she tried to act like her normal self, engaging in conversations and lightly scolding the boys only to make them all laugh. But if anyone missed her fumbling and absent-mindedness, they were half blind.

With a deep breath, she entered the room with Harry and Ron. It wasn't uncommon for her to urge them towards the front of the room, but she was more enthusiastic then she ever had been. She seated herself in the front row center seat and prepared her materials for a class that she knew she wouldn't be able to concentrate in. Fortunately for her, she already knew everything in the 7th year DADA curriculum.

Remus entered the room, nodding and smiling at the class. Replying to some student's greetings, he pretended to be interested in what they had to say, but in reality he wasn't. He saved looking at Hermione for last, knowing she would take the particular seat that she had. He let his eyes remain locked with hers for a moment, both twinkling with their 'dirty little secret.'

"Why hello Miss Granger, how are you this morning?" Nobody paid the special attention any notice; Hermione was known to be a favorite among the teachers, so the conversing between her and any given teacher was in the norm.

"Quite fine, **Professor** Lupin, and yourself?" She emphasized the word "professor" and smiled in mock-innocence, and he had to break the gaze before he laughed out loud. When he regained his composure, he glanced back up at her and winked before getting the class's attention and beginning the lesson.

"Seventh years, welcome to your final school course of Defense Against the Dark Arts." He paused for a round of applause from the soon to be graduating class. " I hope you all have come prepared to take notes, because today we will be discussing many things. This will be a class discussion, not a one-way lecture. As a matter of fact, most of the year (in this class anyway) will be spent that way. I assume after 6 previous years of this class, you have developed a basic knowledge of the practice. But the key is to be able to apply the odds and ends that are taught to you to any given situation; to be able to manipulate them to suit your needs. So, let us begin."

The class review of the 3 Unforgivables went rather smoothly, but when it came down to it, nobody knew how to create their own defense mechanisms. Hermione's eyes were lit up, and Remus could tell she had an idea. He was about to call on her to speak her mind, when she subtly shook her head letting him know she didn't want to voice it. Making a mental note to ask her about her idea later, he continued on with his class, prompting and encouraging his students as he always had.

When class ended, everyone got up to leave, except for Hermione. When the final student had left and the door was shut soundly behind them, the couple burst out in hysterical laughter and hugged each other tightly. Remus sweetly brushed his lips against hers and tucked a couple of stray curls behind her ear.

"Thank you for being you," he whispered in her ear. The only response she could muster was to pull him tighter. Desperately wanting to make the moment last longer but conscious of Hermione's studious ways, he spoke up. "You do know that you have a class this period don't you?"

"Oh," she moaned, "I forgot. I'm already (looked at Remus's watch) 10 minutes late."

"Well you know love, tone of the perks of having a 'boyfriend' that's a teacher is that I'm able to excuse you from any missed classes." He said suggestively.

"I'm very tempted, but today's the first day of classes, and I hardly think I would be able to focus on anything knowing that I blew off the first day of a class." He laughed at her seriousness.

"All right, all right. I'll just write you an excuse for being late, ok?"

He hurriedly scribbled a note while dictating it aloud to Hermione.

"_Please excuse Miss Hermione Granger's tardy arrival to your class today. I'm her HA, and we had some important issues to discuss. If you have any further questions, feel free to approach me at any time. Yours truly, Remus Lupin."_

"There now, see? Everything's fine. Now go on to class, I'll see you soon ok?"

"Alright Remus. Thank you!" She hugged him again.

"Your very welcome," he said warmly as he kissed her cheek.

And with that, Hermione sprinted from the room and headed down to the greenhouse for Herbology.

I think this has been my longest chapter so far! Yay!

Oh, and I couldn't help myself, when the image of a dancing Dumbledore popped into my head, I couldn't get it out. So sorry if some of you don't like that part or think it's out of context or something.

Please R & R! I'm on Christmas break, so I should be updating pretty fast. Hope you enjoy.

Oh, and just to give u a heads up, I'm excited about writing the next chapter, so be looking for it!


	5. Tears

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of this story except for the plot and the tavern. Everything else belongs to the wonderful j.k rowling. **

**A/N: Ok, here's the new chapter! Let me know what you think. Oh, and do the character's sound like themselves in this or not?**

The days slowly turned into weeks. Hermione and Remus kept their rendezvous sporadic, subtle, and most importantly, secret. Before or after meals, before or after classes, they made time to see each other daily; even if not always for long amounts of time. Talks, hugs, and kisses with each other were the highlights of their respective days. Both still had trouble believing that everything was working out as well as it was. Student-teacher relationships were hardly acceptable in either the muggle or wizarding societies, and they were both well aware of that.

Remus worried about the glitches more then he wanted to. He worried that Hermione could get hurt, or that she wasn't aware of what she was getting into. Or worse, that this was only a sort of crush she had developed and that eventually her feelings would be yanked away from his grasp and handed over to some…. boy. The very thoughts of the like proved to be the source of his restless nights and caused him to cringe, so he planned that during their next time together he would bring these worries up to her.

Hermione herself was feeling very divided about the situation. Her practical, logical, and even moral sides would bare their ugly faces every now and then to taunt and reprimand her; to tell her that what was going on was wrong. But her heart and her gut told her it wasn't and that she was simply going to have to bring her other senses around. Contenting herself with that, she went through her days and nights thinking that no one knew something was going on with her. But her friends were much more perceptive than she was giving them credit to be.

One night, Harry and Ron planned to talk her into a late night run to Hogsmeade. By now she had given both of them the password to her dorm; it was her new sanctuary and if she needed to be found, she was there. They found her curled up in a lounge chair (that she had evidently pulled up to the fire,) reading. She had her hair on top of her head in a messy bun, a baggy gray pullover sporting a logo for the muggle Olympics, black sweat pants, her new reading glasses perched on her nose, and a vibrant red blanked draped over her. She was so immersed with the book, that Harry had to clear his throat to get her attention.

"Ahhem.." She looked up, obviously startled. When she saw the familiar forms, she smiled.

"Hello you two, what brings you here to my chambers?" she said in a royal tone.

"Well, we wanted to see if you wanted to run down to Hogsmeade with us tonight." Harry said. Ron was looking around the room, he was always fascinated with the muggle touches she had added; a television, computer, stereo, microwave, etc.

"Sorry, Harry. But I really need to finish this up tonight, and when I do I'm going to turn in for bed. I'm really tired. Maybe some other time?" she suggested.

Now Ron was standing beside Harry again. From out of nowhere, he exploded. " 'Mione, why are you being so bloody uppity this year? I mean, we've only been in school for a month, and you're already in such an, I don't know, 'zone.' It's the middle of the night, and you don't have any homework left, and it's the 3rd time you've blown us off to do something, or because you're 'tired.' If it were N.E.W.T time or something I would understand, but it's not. What gives?" Ron had turned slightly red as he threw his little fit. Harry sharply jabbed an elbow in his side, causing Ron to calm down a little bit.

"Ron, I assure you that I've not been 'blowing you off.' Or if I have, I'm sorry. I've just had a lot on my mind lately. I'll tell you what. Let's plan on a run this weekend, say Saturday night? I'll go with you, and the first two rounds of Butterbeers are on me." She hoped she didn't sound too desperate. She really did have a lot on her mind lately, but she didn't want her two best friends to feel neglected.

"It's fine Hermione, really." Harry started, trying to stay neutral. "We've all had a lot on our minds, or I know that I have." He paused, and he rubbed his scar out of habit. "So yeah, lets plan on going Saturday night too. Ron, me and you can still go tonight. Is that alright with the two of you?" he looked at them. When they both nodded and smiled, he smiled too. "Good then. We'll bring you something back, 'Mione. And if you're tired, try not to stay up too late reading, ok?" He looked genuinely concerned about her. As much as she'd insisted that she was fine over the past few days, he didn't exactly believe it. She did look tired, as if she weren't getting enough sleep. She hadn't confided in him though, so all he could do was protect her as best as he could. He really did care about her, but didn't want those feelings to interfere with their friendship.

She agreed, and got up from her chair to hug and kiss each boy on the cheek. When she saw them to the door and fastened it shut behind her, she glanced at the clock on the wall. 11pm. _Damn_, she thought. _I'm going to be late. _She hurriedly changed clothes into something warm but cute. She shook her hair loose, letting the curls do as they pleased. 11:03 _Record timing_, she mumbled out loud. She grabbed her wand and hurried out the door. Being as careful and as quiet as possible, she sneaked through the castle and headed for the doors leading outside. Under the light of the moon and stars, she sprinted across the ground.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Yeah Ron, I'll be right down." Harry said to Ron. They had already left when they realized that they didn't have the Invisibility cloak with them. Ron went to the rest room while Harry retrieved the cloak from his trunk. Hermione was still on his mind; he truly was worried about her. She'd always been very focused, so it wasn't as much that that was bothering him. Lately he would notice her staring off into space, sometimes with a dreamy expression, and sometimes as if she were dissecting a very complicated problem. Other then that, she tended to fidget with things and sneak off without telling them. She constantly said that she was fine, but Harry Potter knew better. There was something she wasn't telling them, and he intended to figure out what it was.

As he closed his trunk, he happened to glance out the window and out across Hogwarts grounds. It was a very bright night; the stars and the nearly full moon were doing a good job of illuminating it. Suddenly, he saw a girl hurrying from the school and out across the grounds. She paused for a moment, as if making sure she was going the right way. Intrigued, Harry looked harder at her. Then he noticed it. The silver glow of the necklace she was wearing. The moonlight reflected off of it, casting a light glow around her. He knew that necklace; Hermione had gotten it on her last birthday from Dumbledore. It was charmed to react with the moonlight and cast a light silver haze of protection around her. _But what's she doing out there?_ He wondered. He watched her disappear into the forest. He sighed, and headed down to meet Ron.

"What took you so long?" Ron asked.

"Um, nothing. Took me a while to find this thing in the dark." He couldn't tell Ron that he'd just watched Hermione sneak away after she'd just told them she was going to bed; he'd have a conniption fit. So instead, Harry swore to himself that he was going to try even harder to figure Hermione's little secret out.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Once out the doors, Hermione made it to the lake before having to pause for a moment to breathe. Her necklace began to glow, and she cursed outloud and tucked it into her shirt. She then scurried across the land and headed towards their spot. On the skirts of the Forrest, there was a spot where there was a large boulder. Few ever ventured to that far end of Hogwarts grounds, but those who did had probably never even noticed the boulder, since it was overgrown with ivy and blended in with the trees. She walked around to the back of it and was immediately comforted by the light spray of the waterfall. The waterfall sprang fourth from the boulder; she assumed the same spring fed it that fed the lake down below. Smiling, she removed her shoes and hopped across the rocks leading to the waterfall itself. She then hopped onto a thin ledge on the boulder and squeezed herself through a crack in the rock.

"Well hello, love. Didn't think you were coming." Remus walked over to her and hugged her tightly. Besides the little moments during the day, the only time that they had any control over were the late night meetings in the little tavern nestled behind the waterfall. It had been a frequent hang out for the marauders; one of their many secrets on the Hogwarts grounds. The first time Remus had brought Hermione there had been the previous week, and her breath had been taken away. Inside, there were crystals that glowed in every color imaginable. Her first thought had been that they must be worth a fortune, but Remus laughed and said that they had looked into that as soon as they had found it too. "It seems that 15 pounds of these things could buy us exactly one chocolate covered frog," he had said.

"Sorry, I really meant to be here at 10:30, but I got hung up by Ron and Harry," she giggled. "But I'm here now."

"Yes you are, and that's very fortunate. Because if you hadn't shown up, I would have froze to death sitting here waiting." He laughed good-naturedly. They sat on the ground together, his arms wrapped tightly around her.

"Hermione?" he seemed a little worried about whatever he was about to say. He needed to reassure himself that Hermione understood everything about this relationship, and he needed to clarify that it was indeed a relationship, and not just a 'hook up.'

"Yes?"

"We need to talk." He felt her body tense up, but paid it no attention. He was oblivious that those four little words were a bad omen for relationships in the muggle world.

"Ok, what about?"

"About us." She tensed up even more and leaned out of his arms.

"All right then, go ahead." She said a little bit bitterly. Remus was surprised by the way she was acting, but carried on anyway.

"Hermione, what exactly is this that we're doing? What are we?"

"We're, well boyfriend girlfriend sounds a little bit juvenile doesn't it? But I think that's the best title for 'this'. Why?"

"Well, I just needed to clarify that we're thinking on the same level. I am much older than you, and I just needed to figure this out. I don't want to hurt you, but…" he was interrupted.

"If you're breaking this off, just say so."

He looked at her, stunned. "What are you talking about? I'm just saying that I think that a young lady like yourself may be more interested in some other little boy, not me." Again he was harshly interrupted.

"Little boy? So now I'm a young lady that you think would want some ' little boy.'? Is that what you think of me as, a child?"

He was completely shocked. He'd never suggested anything remotely like that, but then again he didn't understand those four little words he had initiated the conversation with would automatically put her on defensive mode. "No, Hermione, I just wanted to…"

"Save it, Remus. I thought this was more then a sneaky little fling, I thought you cared about me."

"I do, Herm…"

"Just don't talk to me! Your horrid! I can't believe you would do this to me, I can't believe that…." She was screaming and rambling.

"Miss Granger!" Remus thundered without thinking. He immediately regretted saying it. It caused her to stop her ranting and raving for a moment before continuing on in a hurt voice.

"Oh," she whispered through her tears. "We're back to that again now are we? Well Professor Lupin, you have my word that I will not mention this little affair to anyone, I still respect you too much for that and no matter what, I wouldn't want you to lose your job over me. I'll pretend none of this ever happened."

"Baby, I never meant for….." interrupted again. _this argument to happen at all _he finished the sentence in his mind.

"It's ok, really it is." She brushed her tears away, trying to prove to him that she was mature and not a child. "Just do me a favor, and don't talk to me, please, just don't." And with that, she ran out of the tavern as best as she could. He watched her flee, but stayed where he was sitting. The light of his world had just ran out of it, and Remus had never felt so cold.

XXXXXXXXX

As soon as she was away from the boulder, Hermione's tears poured freely. She ran blindly towards the castle, all the while sobbing her heart out to the heavens. When she got to the doors, she stifled her sobs as she headed to her dorm. Hoping and praying that she didn't run into anyone, she snuck through the common room and then through her portrait of the full moon. Once in her rooms, she ran to the couch that she and Remus had slept on that one night that seemed so long ago, and cried herself to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXX

The weeks went by rather quickly. Hermione didn't want to talk to Remus and he knew that; so he didn't talk to her either. They both dreaded 5tt period DADA class, because in their minds and hearts they still wanted each other. The tiny misunderstanding was causing them both worlds of pain, but they were both too stubborn to confront the other. So, they sat in class and avoided eye contact with one another. But when Remus wasn't looking, Hermione would be staring at him; and when Hermione wasn't looking, Remus was staring at her too.

Harry and Ron were relieved that Hermione was acting more like her old self. The dreamy expression had left her eyes, and she didn't sneak around any more. Harry couldn't forget seeing her running through the grounds that night, but he decided to wait about asking her; but he also kept a close eye on her. And in doing so, he noticed something that most people didn't. Whenever they were in DADA class, or in the halls, or in the great hall even, Hermione would from time to time shamelessly flirt with whatever boy was nearby, constantly glancing around as if seeing if someone were noticing. Harry couldn't for the life of him figure out whom she could be trying to make jealous, but one thing was for sure. Whenever she felt that she'd gotten her point across, she would drop the boy in an instant and have a smug look on her face as she walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Halloween was swiftly approaching, and the castle was as festive as ever. Candles and lanterns, pumpkins carved into jack lanterns, and the entire school in was in a frenzy. There was to be a dance on Halloween night, and every girl in the school was ecstatic. The boys, however, moaned and groaned about having to be responsible for asking the girls out again.

Every girl was indulgent and splurged on gowns, including Hermione (though she had to be persuaded by Ginny.)

"Come ON Hermione!" Ginny squealed as they tried gowns on in a little shop in Hogsmeade. "This one is PeRfEcT for you! Look how hott you look! Aahh now there, I see that smile on your face. You know you look hot in that one, so you'd better get it."

Hermione was in fact smiling into the mirror, but not at first about the dress. The mirrors weren't in the literal dressing rooms, but just outside of them. So to see herself fully, she had to come out to the mirrors and stand on the pedestal that was there. As she stood there with Ginny, she had noticed that she could see the glass window display at the front of the store in the reflection of the mirror. (A/N: like she had her back to the window display of the store, but could see it in the mirrors reflection.) But what made her blush and smile had been that a certain person had been standing there in front of the store, peering through the window display for nearly 10 minutes now. Remus.

Ginny went back to the dressing rooms to try on another dress, and Hermione stayed on the pedestal, seemingly appraising the dress she was wearing. In reality though, she was watching Remus. She had forgiven him, almost immediately, but she still thought he didn't want her. She glanced down at her feet for a moment. _I have to talk to him_, she thought. She turned around and was going to step off of the stool and go outside to talk to him, but she stopped. He wasn't there anymore.

"Hermione, are you ready to go?"

"Huh? Yeah, I'm going to get this one." She said, being yanked out of her thoughts by Ginny. She changed and then placed the midnight blue dress on the counter and waited for the clerk to ring her up, all the while thoughts of Remus filled her mind.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Merlin, she looks beautiful_, Remus thought to himself. Since she seemed so adamant about not talking to him, he had steered clear of her as well. There had been several times that he wanted to grab her and snog her senseless, but he felt it would be unwanted attention. He still didn't understand what had happened that night in the tavern, but one thing was for sure: she had seemed to get over him rather quickly. He had seen her with countless other boys and it hurt. _She couldn't really want to be with you, you oaf_, he thought bitterly. _She wants someone young, someone normal, not an old werewolf._ The full moon had come and past for both September and October, and he hadn't taken his Wolfsbane for either one. He thought that the physical pain could take away from the emotional pain he was feeling inside, but it didn't. He loved her, and that wouldn't go away.

So, instead, he indulged himself in watching her when she wasn't paying attention, like just then. As she twirled and fiddled with the dress, he felt like his heart was in there with her. He was numb to the coldness around him, and all that existed was Hermione. He noticed her glance falter towards the ground, and he feared that he'd been spotted. So, he walked away from the window display box and into the store next door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

October 30th

It was the last night before Halloween, and the following day was only a half-day of classes in order to prepare for the ball. Everyone was excited, except for Remus and Hermione. The day unfolded as normally as could be expected on the dayt before Halloween. Night rolled around, and Hermione was thoroughly exhausted. She had to meet with Draco in the morning for some last minute plans about the ball. So instead of staying up all night with the rest of the Gryffindor's in the common room, she turned into bed early. She sighed as she entered her bedroom; ever since the breakup, it had continuously looked like a brilliantly lit night with a million stars and a large, full, orb of a moon in the center. The room read her thoughts and desires, and what she wanted more than anything was Remus. It would have been creepy for the room to take the form of his face; so instead it was a more subtle implication, but one she understood nonetheless.

When she crawled under the covers (which smelled like Remus even though he'd never been there,) she drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Hermione's Dream:

It was their graduation. Hermione and her classmates had never been so thrilled, relieved and sad at the same time. Everyone was sitting in the Great Hall and the ceremony had begun. When Hermione and Draco stood to give their Head Boy and Head Girl speeches, the giant doors of the Hall burst open.

"_Sorry, Mudblood," Draco sneered as he jumped down from the podium. "Looks like my guests have arrived."_

_Death Eaters swarmed into the Hall, casting curses and hexes at the crowd of people gathered there. The Hall was in a frenzy; this was it. This was the Battle to end them all. Teachers, guests, and students from all houses joined forces to fight the Death Eaters, vampires, and the few werewolves that had joined the dark side. _

_They were all engaged in battling the enemy. At one point, Hermione ended up back to back with Professor _

McGonagal. "Hermione!" she shouted. "Go to my office and lock the doors behind you. Floo the Minister and tell him we need reinforcements, immediately! Then floo anyone else you can think of. GO MISS GRANGER!" "But I…" she didn't get to finish because Minerva had already turned away and was across the room. 

Hermione took off as fast as she could towards the Professor's office. She thought she was done for when she heard "Crucio" cast just over her shoulder. Instead of hitting her, it hit a young 3rd year from Hufflepuff. Hermione screamed, but continued up the stairs.

When she got into the office, she collapsed onto the ground in front of the fireplace. She flooed the Minister of Magic; help would be sent immediately. She jumped with a scream when the door behind her opened despite the locks and charms she had put on it.

Remus staggered through the door, bleeding profusely. "Remus!" she gasped. He was walking towards her, and she in turn stood to go to him.

Just then, a Death Eater appeared in the doorway behind Remus. He aimed his wand at Remus, and before Hermione could warn him, the killing curse was fired from the wand's tip directly at him. She saw his eyes grow huge, and with his last breath he gasped "Hermione."

Hermione woke up screaming. She was still disoriented from her nightmare. It was so horrible, and so realistic. She couldn't calm herself down, couldn't slow her racing pulse. At that moment, she didn't care that she and Remus had fought, all she wanted was him. Still in a dream-like state, she staggered out of her portrait hole, and then through the Fat Lady's as well. She had never been to Remus's rooms, but somehow she knew where she was going. Silent tears were streaming down her face, but she didn't care. She just needed Remus.

When she got to the door, she pounded on it as loudly as she dared to in a slumbering castle. She knew she'd never been here before, but her gut was telling her that this was the door to his rooms.

XXXXXXXXXX

Remus was awoken at 1:30 am by someone knocking on his door. "Bloody hell," he said aloud as he stumbled out of bed and wrapped a robe around himself. He was fully prepared to give a good telling off to whoever was standing outside his door. When he threw it open though, he stopped. It was Hermione. And she was crying. On his doormat. Without a word, he took her into his arms and she didn't fight. He led her into his rooms and sat with her on a couch, stroking her hair and letting her cry on his shoulder.

After about 10 minutes of silence only interrupted by Hermione's hiccups, Remus cleared his throat and spoke. "Shhh Hermione, it's ok. What's wrong?" he was being very gentle, and she relaxed a little bit.

"Oh Remus!" she sobbed and then she poured out the nightmare in full detail to him. "I was so scared," she said. "Not so much that we were under attack, even though that was pretty bad. What scared me so terribly was the thought of losing you…. Forever." She said that hesitantly. Her sense came back to her, and she remembered that they were no longer together. "Oh, I…. I'm sorry. I don't know why I came up here… you must think I'm crazy. I'll just…. Go back to my room…" she rambled on.

"Hermione," Remus said. "I don't even know what happened a couple weeks ago between us, all I know is that I never wanted us to split. I've never stopped caring about you." He was searching her eyes with his own.

"Remus," she began. "You were breaking up with me."

"WHAT? I most certainly was not."

"Really?"

"Really! What ever gave you that idea?"

"Well, you said 'we need to talk." She ended the sentence there, expecting the rest to be self explanatory.

"So? We did. I needed to make sure that you really did want to be with me, and that what I was feeling wasn't one sided."

It was then that Hermione realized that he wasn't aware of the negative vibe that those four words held in the muggle world. She threw her arms around him. "Oh Remus, I'm sorry. I should have heard you out!"

"Well, I should have chased after you that night. If I had and explained myself, we would have been fine these past couple of weeks."

They both laughed at the misery they had endured, and they laughed because they were together again. They talked and kissed and talked some more for hours to make up for lost time. When Hermione drifted off to sleep, Remus stayed awake and watched her. He felt for this young woman more then he'd ever felt for anyone before. She looked like an angel when she was awake and like a goddess while she slept. He brushed his lips against her hair and whispered, "Hermione, I'll always love you, no matter what happens." And with that, he closed his eyes as well and fell asleep, his arms wrapped protectively around her.

**A/N : Ok, ok…….. I'm sorry that I had the break up and then the getting back together in the same chapter! I seriously thought about splitting this chapter, but decided not to. Do you think I rushed it by putting them in the same chapter? It is a long one…….**

**NEXT CHAPTER: the Halloween ball! A mysterious cloaked man calls Hermione, Ron, and Harry outside. He tells them something that could impact the great Battle that is approaching, but swears them to secrecy. Will they keep it quiet, or will they tell? Then later on… Hermione starts brewing the Wolfsbane for Remus, and in turn she begs to get to stay with him for the full moon. **


	6. Halloween Ball

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the other characters (well, except for one mystery person at the end.) But the plot is mine. Also, I don't own either the Songs "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns n Roses or "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi.**

**A/N: It's Christmas eve right now! I'm sitting up writing. Hope you enjoy, I had a lot of fun with this one.**

Halloween morning dawned on Remus and Hermione earlier than they could have wanted it to. They had only been asleep for a couple of hours, so when the sun peaked through the window, they both squinted and wriggled further under the cover that Remus had pulled over them at some point in the night.

"Hermione,"

"Huuuhh…..?"

"We have to get up."

"I don't want to." She groaned and snuggled against his chest.

He laughed. "But first classes start at 7 today, and it's nearly 6 now." She groaned again, and he sighed. "Well, I guess a few more minutes won't hurt."

Nearly 20 minutes later, Remus whispered to Hermione that he was going to get a shower.

"Ok…" she mumbled. When he got up, she opened her eyes to watch him leave. It was then that she finally got out of her sleepy stage and realized she was in Remus's rooms. She got to her feet and walked around. The layout seemed to be exactly like hers, except that it wasn't as boldly decorated. In reality it seemed like the kind of room Remus would have; laid back, cherry wood, leather furniture, very sophisticated yet very 'bachelor'. Noticing the time, she headed over to the bathroom door. Remus was singing 'Sweet Child of Mine' in the shower. She stifled a laugh before saying "Remus?"

"Umm… yes?"

"I'm going to go up to my room and get a shower."

"Hold on a sec." She heard the water turn off, and a couple of minutes later Remus opened the door and steam poured out. He had a navy blue robe wrapped around himself and tied loosely at the waist; loose enough that Hermione could tell that was all he was wearing.

Hoping that her blush wasn't too obvious, she smiled up at him as he kissed her on the cheek. "Alright love. I'll see you later in class ok?"

"Alright. Bye Moony." And she kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Bye."

XXXXXXXXXX

Hermione had flooed back to her rooms, pausing to let the breath out she'd been holding. _He really has no idea what he does to me,_ she thought. She took a quick shower and prepared herself for the day. Since it was only a half-day of school, all of the classes were cut short.

She met up with Harry and Ron in the common room. She knew that Harry was growing suspicious of her mood swings, and she hoped that now that all of her worries were settled that she would be her normal self again. The three of them went down to grab a quick breakfast before heading to Potions.

XXXXXXXXX

DADA class rolled around rather quickly; it started at 10:30 that day. Hermione came in with Harry and Ron as always and sat in her seat up front. When Remus entered the room, they smiled at each other instantly. After the bell rang, Remus began the short lesson.

Hermione got the bright idea to write him a note; she thought it would be cute. So under the pretense of taking notes, she wrote a quick one to him.

_My Dear Remus,_

_Hello love. I'm sitting here, right in front of you, and I can't pay attention to a word you're saying. I suppose I'm going to need some extra tutoring from you…..wink, wink But really, do you think this is as funny as I do? Having to pretend we're not together, having to pretend we're only, 'us.' I feel so strange having to refer to you as 'Professor' while in here; I'm constantly worried that I will call you by your 1st name, or worse, a pet name. Can you imagine the look on everyone's face if I raised my hand and said "Sweetie, come here a second?" I'm seriously about to laugh right now. I see you looking at me, wondering what I'm smiling about. I'm going to try to get your attention now. Write me back love!_

_Yours forever and always, Hermione_

Hermione caught Remus's eye, and very discretely folded the paper and told him with her eyes to come and take it up. When Remus finally caught on, he stood from his desk and walked over to hers. "Miss Granger," he began, "I believe I will be taking that; no note writing in my class." She played along and pretended to be embarrassed that the teacher had taken up a note.

Remus walked back to his desk, sat down in his chair, and momentarily laid the note aside. The entire class was waiting to see if he was going to read it aloud, and when he didn't, they went back to their books. When he was sure that nobody was looking, he opened it and read it. With a grin on his face, he began his reply.

_My angel,_

_I see that you are about as focused as I am today, bravo. And in response to what people would do if you happened to 'slip up' and call me something, Harry's eyes would bulge out of his head and Ron would glare at me the rest of the period. Might be amusing now that I think about it…. But no matter. Last night when you showed up at my door, I was expecting anybody but you. However, I am glad that you came; I missed you. And I love to see you like this; you're positively glowing. In the beginning, I could tell you were a little bit weary, as was I. And then when we were separated, I could see that you were as unhappy as I was, though you did a good job of hiding it by making me jealous, and yes, it worked. I was insanely jealous, but all for good reason. Now though, there are no doubts, and we're (or I know that I am anyway) floating on a cloud._

_Tonight's the big Halloween dance! Are you ready? I think you and Draco have done a wonderful job organizing this (though if I had to guess it was mostly you.) Class is almost over now. I will see you later my goddess, and when you leave this room you will take my heart with you._

_Forever yours, Remus._

Remus folded the parchment into as small of a square as it would go. He walked around the room, stopping at various desks to observe what the students were doing. When he stopped at Hermione's, he dropped the note on her desk and she quickly covered it with her hand. After a couple of minutes, she opened it and read it. She loved how he called her 'angel' and 'goddess,' he really had a romantic side, and it wasn't corny at all. Who knew Remus had that side to him? Smiling, she tucked it into her bookbag when the bell rang.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry was sitting beside Hermione in DADA class. He noticed that she was writing, and assumed she was taking notes. When Professor Lupin took it up and said it was a note though, Harry's curiosity was aroused. The only people that she would normally write a note to were Ron and himself, and both of them were within whispering range of her.

Harry watched Professor Lupin read the note and then begin to write something himself. Assuming it was something completely unrelated, Harry continued on with his work. When the Professor walked around the room, he patted Harry on the back as always. Harry glanced up just in time to see him drop a piece of parchment onto Hermione's desk and to see her grin and cover it up with her hand.

She opened it and began to read. He tried to see what it was, and while he couldn't read the entire thing, he did catch pieces of it.

_"My Dear Remus," "My angel" "Sweetie come here a second." "When you showed up at my door last night, I was glad." "Yours forever and always, Hermione." "Forever yours, Remus."_

Harry was astounded. Remus and Hermione were write love letters to each other! What was he going to do? What COULD he do? He couldn't very well tell Hermione that he'd been reading her note; she would fly off the handle. He couldn't ask Remus, because he would probably deny it to protect himself and Hermione. And her couldn't talk to Dumbledore, because if he found out about it, Remus would surely get fired and Hermione could get expelled! As the bell rang, he decided to keep a closer eye on the two of them. After all, he told himself, I could have just read it wrong, but her seriously doubted it. He gathered his things, and headed to his next class with Hermione and Ron.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the school day was uneventful. When the last class ended, the girls all flew back to their dormitories to start getting ready. Hermione's dorm became the 'it' place for all of the Gryffindor girls to get ready. The boys just hung out in the common room; they wouldn't start getting ready until much later on. Everybody had a date, even Hermione. Harry was taking Ginny, and Ron was taking Luna.

It was tradition that the Head Boy and Girl attended all balls and school functions together; so Draco was her date. They had talked about it, and decided that it would be ok. They didn't have to stay with each other, just show up together, be seen together for a few minutes, and have the first dance together. No big deal. After that, they would split up and go their separate ways, which was fine with Hermione.

The ball began at 8, and it was 7:45. The girls were all rushing to try and get their finishing touches done. When Hermione was done, she snuck away. She had to meet up with Draco at 7:50 in front of the Great Hall so that they could make their entrance.

"Well Granger, you look nice this evening." Draco said. It surprised her how civil he could be to her.

"As do you." He smiled smugly.

"Of course I do, I always look great." She rolled her eyes at him. Even with manners, he was still Draco Malfoy.

"Alright now. Let's do this. Give me your arm."

"I'll not be following orders from you Granger. I'll give you my arm when I'm good and ready." He let 15 seconds tick by. "Alright, now I'm ready. Smile and make people think we're wonderful." He glued a fake smile on his face and she couldn't help but laugh as he led her into the room.

When the first slow song came on shortly after 8, Draco led Hermione out to the center of the dance floor. They danced and chatted until the song ended. They left the floor together.

"Alright, Granger, good acting."

"I must say the same for you."

"I think we're done now."

"Ok. I'll see you around."

"Alright. Goodnight."

They smiled faintly at each other and turned to go their separate ways. They weren't exactly friends, but they weren't dire enemies anymore. She spotted Remus standing by the main doors leading outside. She walked towards him, and he opened the doors that led outside. The stars and moon shone brightly and there was not a cloud to be seen. They walked a little ways before he put his arm around her shoulders. When they got to the lake, he stopped her and just looked at her.

The dress she was wearing was midnight blue with splashes of silver sparkles throughout it. Spagetti strapped and clingy, it fit her body like a glove. She had her curls swept up on top of her head and had baby's breath entwined in them. She had simple diamond stud earrings in, and a silver necklace trimmed in diamonds. The necklace was enchanted in the moonlight, and it cast a soft glow on her.

He squeezed her hand as the muggle song "Bed of Roses" by Bon Jovi played. He smiled down at her, and asked, "Hermione, would you like to dance?"

"I'd love to."

He pulled her close, their bodies pressed tightly together. They swayed to the music, nothing else in the world existed.

_"……….About all of the things that I long to believe  
About love and the truth and  
what you mean to me  
And the truth is baby you're all that I need_

_I want to lay you on a bed of roses  
For tonight I sleep on a bed on nails, ohh…  
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is  
And lay you down on bed of roses……….."_

Remus sang parts of it to her, making her smile. He dipped her low, and then swept her back up; their bodies pressed closer than ever. They were both excellent dancers, and they fit together perfectly.

"You fell from Heaven and into my arms." He whispered in her ear. Before she could say anything, he captured her lips with a kiss. It was unlike any other they'd ever shared before. It was tender, and it made the world around them disappear; it was magical. The necklace around Hermione's neck glowed brighter white when their lips connected, and slowly dimmed back when they finally separated.

They continued to dance to the song, their eyes locked on each other's.

_"……When you close your eyes  
Know I'll be thinking about you………..  
I've got nothing to prove  
For it's you that I'd die to defend_

_I want to lay you down on a bed of roses  
For tonite I sleep on a bed on nails  
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is  
And lay you down on bed of roses……"_

As the song faded, they stayed in each other's arms.

"I love you Hermione," Remus whispered as their lips brushed each others.

"I love you too." They smiled and kissed again.

When they separated, Remus scooped her up in his arms and spun her, and she giggled with pleasure. When she was back on her feet, the two of them walked hand in hand towards the castle. When they got to the doors, they paused.

"We can't come in together like this," Hermione said.

"I know."

"Did you mean it?" Hermione asked him suddenly. He knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Yes I did… and do… and always will." He paused. "Did you?"

She smiled, glanced at her feet, then back up at him. "Yes."

He pulled her hands up and kissed them. "Alright love. Your friends are going to get worried."

"I suppose they will won't they? I'll see you inside." She said. He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled as she turned to walk into the castle. Remus waited exactly a minute before following her in.

XXXXXXXXXX

"THERE she is," Ron said to Harry. They had been looking for Hermione for a full 30 minutes.

"Hey guys." She said when she finally got across the Hall to them.

"Well hey there yourself!" Harry said with a grin. "You disappeared after your dance with Draco."

"Sorry bout that. I needed some fresh air."

"Oooooh, 'fresh air'. You know what that means Harry?" Ron joked. "Means she was out back snogging somebody. So who's the lucky chap 'Mione?"

He had only been joking, but Hermione blushed. Both Harry and Ron saw it, and Ron continued.

"You mean you WERE out back snogging somebody? Well spill, who was it?"

"Ummm…"

"Come on 'Mione. As long as it's not Draco……." he said. Harry kept quiet because he had a feeling that he already knew who it was.

"Alright boys. I need to talk to you. Can we go for a walk?"

They looked confused, but agreed.

"Alright, as long as I don't have to snog Harry."

"Ron…." Both Harry and Hermione said.

"What?" he said innocently.

After excusing themselves from their dates, Harry and Ron went with Hermione back outside. As they walked down a path, she started.

XXXXXXXXX

"Ok, I've been keeping it from you for a while," she began. "Well, not a LONG while, but longer then I should have."

"Now, can I have your word, both of you, that you won't get mad at me when I tell you?"

Harry immediately agreed, but Ron was more hesitant. He finally agreed.

Relieved, but only a little, Hermione continued. "I've been…… with someone for a little over 2 months now, but it actually feels like much longer." She paused. "You both know him, very well actually." Again she paused. "He's… a little older than me too."

Harry couldn't hold it in anymore. "I know who it is."

Ron was shocked a little amazed. "How'd you figure it out that bloody fast?"

"No, no, I've known for a while." He looked at Hermione long and hard. "And if the both of you are ok with it, then I guess I'm ok with it; though it'll be hard to adjust to at first."

"Oh Harry!" Hermione threw her arms around him, "Thank you so much! I was so scared to tell you!"

"Hermione, don't ever be scared to tell me anything, EVER. Ok?"

She beamed at him. "Ok. Wait, how'd you figure it out?"

"Come on Hermione. Between the notes, and the looks, and the stares, and the smiles, and the sneaking around, not to mention the way you both act in class, I kind of figured it out."

"Is it that obvious?"

"Nah, just to me because I'm so intuitive." He laughed.

Ron was just standing there, completely lost. "Would somebody care to tell me what's going on? Or should I just go back inside?"

Harry and Hermione laughed at him. With a sigh, Hermione told him. "Ron, Remus and I are together."

His jaw literally dropped. "Are you SERIOUS? You, and him, together? But he's….. and you're…….. and………. REALLY?"

"I thought you said you wouldn't get mad."

"Mad? I'm not mad. Astounded, shocked, and a little grossed out, but not mad."

She laughed. "I'll fill both of you in later. But right now, I need your word, both of you. Promise me on our friendship that you will not tell a soul about this. We could get into serious trouble for this. Please?"

They both agreed. Ron still looked a little squeamish, but other then that they were fine. Hermione took each of them on an arm and they headed back towards the castle. She was glad they had taken it as well as they had.

It was then that they heard it; a voice. It was coming from behind a large shrub. They all looked at each other, wondering if they were hearing things. Then they heard it again. They approached the shrub, wands at the ready. As they grew closer, they could make out a voice.

"Come to me, and you shall see. Come to me and you shall see. Come to me and you shall see." It repeated itself like a broken record. They crept around to the back of the shrub and started at what they found.

**A/N: Haha sorry for the cliffy, couldn't help myself. If you've never heard the song "Bed of Roses" you HAVE to listen to it. It came to my mind to include it in here, and so I was playing it while I was writing. **

**Hope you liked this chapter, let me hear from you! (even if u didn't like it)**


	7. Halloween Ball II

**DISCLAIMER: I am merely borrowing these characters from jkr to fulfill my own crazed desire to write. But I DO own the plot and Aapeli, so don't even think about stealing it. :-)**

_Come to me and you shall see." It repeated itself like a broken record. They crept around to the back of the shrub and started at what they found._

There was a human behind the shrub, or at least something human-like. It was digging in the ground as if looking for something. The hole was only about 5 inches deep; so it couldn't have been working for long. As Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached it cautiously, it didn't even seem to notice them.

_Crack. _Ron winced as he moved his foot from the stick he'd just broken. The creature turned around and glared at them harshly. It was wearing a dark robe that had a hood, but its eyes could be seen. They glowed an icy blue and seemed to peer into the students' souls. It stood to its full height; which only came up to Harry's chin but was never the less intimidating.

As it's eyes passed between Ron and Harry, the glare neither lessened nor intensified. But when its eyes fell on Hermione, it shrieked and gasped in a voice that could compete with Moaning Myrtle's.

"You have it!" it cried in agony. "You have it, and now I cannot use it!"

"What do I have?" She asked in confusion.

"I.will. not .tell. you!" It emphasized each word more than the last like a child throwing a tantrum, all the while staring at her glowing necklace.

Hermione noticed, and didn't know why the creature would be interested in it.

At this moment, Harry and Ron put a binding spell on the creature while it wasn't paying attention. "Now," Harry began, " Tell us who you are, what you want, and why you want it."

"I'd rather lick Dumbledore's boots," it spat.

"That can be arranged." Harry threatened. By now he was used to taking the leadership roles in strange situations. The creature gulped.

"My name is Aapeli," it mumbled. When it said no more, Harry pointed his wand in its face and glared at him.

"Ahh…" Aapeli grinned slyly. "So you really do not know what it is I seek? Should have known you wouldn't know the dark legends. Maybe no harm will come of this after all." It mumbled, more to itself than to them.

Only Harry heard it fully, but before he could say anything, they heard footsteps approaching. Taking advantage of their momentary lack of attention, Aapeli broke the invisible bonds. They heard the snap of the restraints and turned around just in time to see Aapeli wave at them with an evil gleam in his eyes and disappear. "Where did he go?" Harry asked. "Hermione, I thought you couldn't apparate on Hogwarts grounds!"

"You… can't." She said in confusion. "It's in all of the history books; Hogwarts is protected, therefore apparition either into our out of it is impossible."

"Guys," Ron said while he was peeking through the shub, "It's Snape."

They all three rolled their eyes. "Come on, quick. Lets go inside and tell Dumbledore about Aapeli." Hermione said.

"We can't." Harry said matter-of-factly.

"And why the bloody hell not?" Ron demanded. By now the three of them were taking a back entrance into the school and talking in whispers so as to avoid the less than delightful professor.

"What I meant to say is we shouldn't. Let's wait until tomorrow. Then we can all three go into his office and talk about it." They all nodded in agreement.

" Er... Hermione? Don't you think that you should take it off?" Ron asked. He had noticed Aapeli staring at the necklace as well.

It took her a second to figure out what he was talking about. She thought for a moment. "No, I don't. I seriously doubt that it has anything to do with whatever Aapeli was looking for. And if it is indeed what he wanted, he would have taken it. Besides, can you think of a better place for us to keep our eye on it then ON one of us? And unless one of you would like to try explaining to the other boys why you're sporting a necklace with a large white stone center surrounded with clusters of diamonds, be my guest. But since I highly doubt either of you wants to do that, I will keep up with it."

"Alright," Ron said, "but what are we going to do about it?"

"We go to Dumbledore in the morning like we already said,and don't worry about it until then." Harry said slowly. He didn't like this at all, but he was trying to put on an act in front of his friends. This little incident was more threatening then it seemed. If Voldemort had someone inside the grounds without Dumbledore knowing, Harry shuddered to imagine what that could mean if and whenHe decided to come and attack. And if the necklace were important enough for Voldemort to send one of his goons out here to find it, then it must be extremely powerful; and the Dark Lord wasn't known for being merciful to those who stood in the way of what he wanted.

Hermione sighed. "Sounds like a plan to me." She was anxious to get back into the ball and to see Remus. But something else, she was scared. She had acted like she wasn't, but she was actually terrified. The reason she said that she would keep the necklace on was not out of logic, as she had made it seem, but something she couldn't explain. She had tried to reach up and unclasp the necklace the moment that they began to walk, but she couldn't. She continued to try to take it off, but she could never even make her arm move in the direction of the clasp.

XXXXXXXXX

Aside from the run in with Aapeli, the rest of the night went smoothly. The ball was a success, and Hermione got many great comments about it from students and teachers. As everyone began to leave, Hermione caught sight of Dumbledore across the room. She started to walk towards him when she remembered that they had decided not to mention anything about their run-in with Aapeli until the next day.

She was still very worried about the fact that she couldn't take the necklace off. _Bloody hell, it's just a necklace_! She told herself. With a sigh, she scanned the room for Remus. She spotted him standing by the punch bowl and then walked in that direction.

He noticed her approaching him, so he scooted over and made room for her to get at the bowl. With their backs to the rest of the ball, nobody could see their expressions or hear their chat.

"Ah, Remus, I'm so tired. This has been a long day!"

"Well, you've done splendidly love." He paused. "Do you know how hard it is for me to stand here and talk like this with you?" he grinned.

"Talk like what? Like we're just having an over-the-punch-bowl chat?"

He laughed. "Exactly."

She spun her punch around and around in her cup. "Remus. Do you think it would be ok if… well I mean to say that….." she breathed with finality. "I'm coming over to your rooms tonight."

"Oh, are you now?" he asked with amusement.

"Yes."

"Well, let me check my schedule." He said with mock-seriousness. "Look, I think I can squeeze you in between 1 and 1:15, if you hurry." He winked at her.

She felt herself blushing and laughed too, and barely refrained from slapping him playfully. Instead, she stepped on his foot under the table.

"Ow!" He gulped through his laughing.

"Ok, we've got to hush. People are coming." Hermione whispered. "I'll be there as soon as I get finished up here and go change. Bye, see you in a little bit."

"Bye."

Hermione turned and left the table just as Professor Dumbledore was approaching it. He stopped her and congratulated her on the ball before proceeding to the table and to Remus.

"Ah, Remus. Wonderful ball tonight wasn't it?"

"Yes it was."

"Hermione did a wonderful job with it did she not?"

"She did."

Dumbledore was watching Remus for signs of emotion. _He's doing a good job of hiding it_ he thought to himself. He decided to try another approach.

"How've your... changes been lately, Remus?"

He hesitated. "Well, actually they've been rather horrid because I've not taken the Wolfsbane."

"Well why not my boy?"

"I guess I've just forgotten. Plus, I think that Servus might eventually slip something extra into it and…" he joked with the headmaster.

He chuckled lightly. "Ah, you know as well as I do that he wouldn't do that. But I was thinking. Maybe somebody else could make it for you. Servus is swamped lately, what with school and havingto stayon Voldemort's good side,and it would help him out tremendously."

Remus thought for a second. "Well, I suppose if anyone else knows how that would be fine. I'd do it myself but I'm horrible at Potions."

"Well nobody else knows how to, at the moment. But I do believe that I could find a student who would be more than willing to learn it."

Remus swallowed his surprise but pretended he didn't know who Dumbledore would be talking about. "Who?"

Dumbledore had noticed his surprise though.

"Miss Granger seems capable of it. She has the highest Potions score in the entire school, and that is saying something. As a matter of fact, I do believe I will talk with her about it in the morning."

"Well sir, if you think she will be able to do it, and if it helps Sniv… I mean Servus out; it's fine with me."

"Good, good. Well, I must go speak with a few guests. Goodnight Remus."

"Goodnight Albus."

Remus watched his old headmaster leave, and then cursed under his breath. He threw his head back and drank the entire cup in one gulp, as if it were a shot glass; he wished it were. He needed somethingstronger, and if Hermione wasn't coming over that night, he would have went to his liquor cabinet. Instead though, he said goodbyes to some people and left the Hall looking quite flustered.

Dumbledore watched him leave and laughed with a knowing gleam in his eye.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione arrived at Remus's rooms about an hour later. By then, Remus had calmed down and was reading a book. At the knock on his door, he marked his place in the book and got up to let her in.

They walked towards his fireplace. Remus sat in a large chair and Hermione crawled into his lap and sat with him. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes before speaking.

"Well Hermione. I feel I should apologize. I've been neglecting my duty to you as your HA lately."

She giggled. "Ok, _Professor_. What would you like to know?"

They proceeded to talk about her classes and schedules.

"How do you feel about Defense Against the Dark Arts class Miss Granger?" he said with interest, still in his teacher voice. It was hard for her to think of him as a teacher at the moment; she was sitting in his lap, he was twirling her hair, and he was begining to kiss the back of her neck.

"Hmm.. I think that the professor is doing a splendid job. I only have one thing that could make it better."

"Oh really? And what would that be?" he stopped and asked with curiousity.

"If I were the only student in it." She flirted.

He growled seductively in her ear. "That would be nice wouldn't it?" he paused. "What do you think about Potions?"

Hermione sat up from where she was leaning on his shoulder and looked at him with questioning eyes. _Where'd that question come from_? She thought. "Um, do you want me to say that I wish I were the only student in there too?"

He cringed. "Noo no NO 'Mione, don't scare me like that. I was wondering in general what you think of Potions."

"Well, I like it, except for Snape being there of course."

"Of course." He paused before continuing. "I had an interesting talk with Dumbledore. He seems to think that it would be a good idea for someone else to learn to make the Wolfsbane for me." He said suggestively.

Her mouth dropped open at his suggestion. "Really? Me? They're going to teach me how to do it? I've wanted to do that forever but Snape's the only one who knew how and I couldn't very well demand that he show me."

"Yes, Dumbledore is going to ask you about it tomorrow. Do you want to do it? Don't feel like you have to because it's for me, please. I don't want you to feel obligated…….." he said.

"Oh really Remus! I've wanted to learn it for forever! I'm excited. And knowing it's for you makes it even better!" she kissed him quickly.

"Alright, if you're sure." He said. It was hard enough for him to accept his being a werewolf, but it was even harder for him to bring other people into that part of his life.

"I'm sure."

Hermione wanted to tell him about the necklace, but decided it wasn't the time to. She needed to find out as much as she could about it from Dumbledore before worrying Remus. So instead, she snuggled into him more.

He took that as a sign and kissed her lips softly. The necklace glowed brightly.

"I love you Hermione." He whispered.

"I love you too Remus." She sighed as he began to deepen the kiss.

Neither of them had ever been so happy.

They were suddenly interrupted by a loud banging on the door.

Hermione jumped off of Remus's lap. She automatically asked, "Who's that?"

"I have no idea, but whoever it is can't see you in here. Come on, you can't floo because I'm out of floo powder." He led her to another door. "Hide in here and don't make a sound." He kissed her quickly before closing her in.

She realized she was in his bedroom, but paid no attention to that. Her ear was glued to the door, waiting to see who was there.

_Bang, bang, bang. _The pounding on the door continued.

"I'm bloody coming!" Remus raised his voice.

He opened the door and let the invader in.

"Hello Remus." Snape began.

"Ah, Severus. Fancyseeing you here." He smiled sarcastically.Snape rolled his eyes and hurried inside and shut the door quickly behind him.

"Look, we have a situation. Voldemort has attacked the ministry."

Remus's eyes widened and he was automatically thrust into serious mode."Literally?"

"Yes literally you fool. I was... summoned." He said quietly. " This was left there." Snape handed him a letter. He scanned it quickly.

"Ok. Does everyone else know?" By everyone, Hermione assumed he meant the rest of the Order.

"Well almost everyone. We're still trying to get ahold of Moody. Dumbledore said we are having an Order meeting in an hour at headquarters." Hermione again had to assume, and she assumed that they were talking about Sirius's house.

"Alright. I'll be in Dumbledore's office in 5 minutes." Snape nodded and turned around and left; Remus closed the door behind him.

He went to the door to his room and yanked it open; Hermione nearly fell to the ground because she had been so pressed against it. "I'm sorry love. I have to go."

"I know. But why would He att…" she was interrupted.

"I don't have time to explain or I would. Now, I'm going to walk you back up to the Fat Lady." She didn't have time to protest; he had grabbed her arm and they were out the door before her mind could completely register what was going on.

When they got to the portrait, Remus demanded that he be let inside the common room. The Fat Lady obliged since he used to be a Gryffindor and was a professor. The common room was luckily empty.

"Now Hermione. Please don't mention anything you heard to anyone. I'm sure everyone will hear by morning, but they need not know more then Dumbledore chooses to tell them. Trust me. I will talk to you tomorrow." He captured her lips in a quick but passionate kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too; be careful." She replied. She didn't want to see him leave; she had been enjoying herself way too much. But she knew that he had to go. He nodded, and was out the door before Hermione could catch her breath.

She heard someone behind her, and turned to see Harry coming down the stairs. She blushed.

"Um, we were just…." She fumbled with words.

" Oh I know what you were doing." he smiled. "Don't worry. You've already told me and I had no reason to be seriously surprised. Now, if you HADN'T told me earlier, it would be very disturbing sight." He joked when he got down to where she was standing. "I went to your room a while ago and you weren't in there; so I figured you were with him anyway."

"Yes. But just to clear something up. We don't DO anything; I swear to you. No more then the likes of what you just saw. I don't want you to get the wrong idea."

He looked at her for a moment, and knew she was telling him the truth. "I believe you."

She smiled with relief. "Good, so what exactly did you hear just now?"

"Just the 'I love you stuff' and then I saw the kiss." He joked. "No big deal."

"Right."

"So, did you tell him about Aapeli?"

"No," she admitted, "I didn't. I didn't want to worry him, especially since we haven't even talked to Dumbledore about it…" She paused. "Harry?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"I can't take the necklace off." She blurted.

"Huh?" His left brow was raised questioningly.

"The necklace that Dumbledore gave me and that Aapeli was staring at. It won't come off! I've been trying all night long. And I just can't take it off; it's like my arms refuses to listen to my brain!"

"Calm down, 'Mione. Now let me see what I can do." She turned and lifted her hair so that he could get to the clasp. As soon as he touched it though, he let it go.

"What, what's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing, let me try again." He did, and dropped it again. He couldn't explain it. It felt ice cold when he touched it. The coldest feeling he'd ever felt. If it had just been the coldness, he was sure he could have convinced himself to ignore it. But it wasn't. Touching the necklace sent the same feeling through his body that the Dementors had.

He continued to try, and he continued to drop it.

"Hermione, you need to go to Dumbledore right now and talk to him about that." He was leery of the necklace and he didn't like seeing it around his best friend's neck.

"I can't; I will tomorrow when we tell him about Aapeli."

"Why can't you tell him tonight?"

She started to tell him about the attack on the ministry, but decided not to. Remus acted like it was very important for her to keep quiet, so she did.

"I'm just tired, Harry." She smiled. "Don't worry about me. It'll be fine, and we'll just all go see him in the morning." He still looked doubtful. "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt me." She laughed and hugged Harry. "I'll see you in the morning, ok?"

"Ok, if you say so, 'Mione." He hugged her back. "Try to get to sleep."

"Oh don't worry, I'll be out as soon as my head hits the pillow. Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight."

And with that, Harry went back up to his dormitory and Hermione walked towards her portrait. She stopped to observe it. It was still a starry night with a large full moon in the center. But she noticed something she never had before. Hogwarts grounds were below it. She didn't know how she could have missed the castle before, but she did.

Sighing, she went through and into her bedroom without another thought of it. She lay on her bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

**A/N: Sorry it took me a couple of days to get this up! When i would try to, it would tell me that it had been "Timed out" (if anyone knows what that means please fill me in) and it wouldn't let me submit the doc. but today it let me put it up, so yay! and this wasn't the best chapter in the world I know, but it had to be done to layout some stuff for later on. Hope to hear from ya!**


	8. Start of the Truth

Disclaimer: Sadly i do not own these lovely characters or Hogwarts or anything except the plot.

This chapter (as well as this entire story) are NOT, i repeat are NOT HBP complient.

Hermione awoke to someone tugging on her covers.

"Uhhhh…." She moaned. She opened her eyes slightly, enough to see Harry and Ron at the foot of her bed. "What do you want?"

"It's 9 in the morning, Hermione," Ron said.

"And we have to go see Dumbledore." Harry picked up where Ron had left off. "Everyone is supposed to report to the Great Hall at 10 for an 'important announcement', whatever that means. So we have to hurry to catch him before that."

Hermione was just coming out of her sleepy haze, and the mention of the 'important announcement' gave her the final shove back into reality. She remembered the events of the past night fully, and automatically reached up to her necklace. Harry noticed it, but didn't mention it.

"Ok boys, let me get up and get ready and then we'll go and talk to him." So the boys went to wait on her in her little living room while she changed and got ready for the day.

XXXXXXXXXX

Upon reaching the gargoyle that blocked the entrance to the Headmaster's office, Harry mumbled "Fizzing Whizbees" and they were granted access. Hermione felt herself growing nervous as they climbed the twisting stairs though she did not know why.

They knocked on the door and Dumbledore quickly said, "Come in." They opened the door and walked into the office. Hermione automatically looked at his face to see if she could read any news of the attack on the ministry there. She could not, so she followed Ron and Harry's example and took a seat.

"Now," Professor Dumbledore began cheerily, "to what can I pay the honor of your visit this morning?"

"Well sir," Harry began, "it's kind of a long story." He proceeded to recount all of the events of the previous night to him. Ron would interject at times, adding a little bit of flavor to the story. Hermione was instead watching the professor's facial expression change. It had initially been full of curiosity, but his eyes were continuing to grow darker by the second. When Harry finished the story, they cleared as if he were trying to hide his thoughts from them.

"Oh and sir," Hermione finally said. "This necklace you gave me. It won't come off. Why won't it? And what was Aapeli looking for last night? And how did he even get onto the grounds? And…" Hermione stopped because the professor had held up his hand for silence.

"It seems to me that the three of you had a very interesting night. I will start by saying that yes, Aapeli was looking for the necklace; more specifically the center stone. Do you recall, Miss Granger, what exactly I told you about it when I gave it to you on your birthday?"

"Yes. You said that it was enchanted and would protect me, especially when in the moonlight."

"Precisely. Now then tell me. Have there been any moments in particular that you can recall when it would glow more then usual?"

She blushed slightly. "Yes."

"Would those times be when you were… romantically engaged with someone?"

"Yes. But what does that have to do with…"

"The stone you wear around your neck is a very powerful one. It not only reacts with moonlight, but with love and unity." He paused. "It is called the Tear of Artimpassa. And it…" Just then an auburn owl flew in the window and dropped an envelope in Dumbledore's lap. He opened and read over it quickly.

"I'm sorry, but it seems as if I am needed elsewhere at the moment. The Tear of Artimpassa is very powerful, but it up to you to understand why and how; I cannot teach you. That isn't to say that you cannot be assisted….." at this he nodded towards Harry and Ron.

"But Professor I… what am I supposed to do?"

"Ah, Miss Granger, that is another piece of the puzzle that you must figure out on your own." And with that, he stood up. The students took that as a sign and said their goodbyes to the headmaster and left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

_I want to tell her_, Dumbledore thought to himself_. But I can't. Blast the prophecy, and blast that cursed necklace!_

Btu he knew that 'that necklace' was indeed very important to their success in the Battle. The fact that he couldn't tell her the power of the necklace was one thing; she was an intelligent student and could research its background. But that fact that he couldn't tell her of the prophecy that foretold of its use….. and the fact that the said prophecy said that she had to figure its powers out and how to use them on her own…… _BLAST_!

_She can do it_, he thought as he ushered them out the door. _She has to_.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well that went brilliantly." Ron muttered when they got back to the hall. "We find out that the psycho we ran into last night wanted her necklace and probably would have ripped her head off to get it." He caught Hermione's eye and realized what he'd just said. "Oh, sorry 'Mione."

"No problem, really. This just means I'm going to be spending a lot of time in the library."

"More then you already do?" Harry attempted to joke, but it came out sounding rather lame.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Come on, there's plenty of time to figure it out, right?" she didn't wait for their replies. "Right. So let's just go eat and then stay for that assembly, shall we?"

"Right." Harry said. "But I know it's going to be bad news. My scar woke me up in the middle of the night, burning like crazy. And even now it's burning a little." Ron's brows rose, wondering how he hadn't noticed Harry's pain.

"Oh Harry! I hope nothing terrible happened." Hermione said anxiously. But in reality, she knew what had happened; she just couldn't let on that she knew so she pretended. She really was getting better at pretending

_And Lying_, she told herself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three of them walked into the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table. Breakfast foods soon appeared in front of them, and they ate heartily. Harry watched Hermione. He watched her eat, watched her talk, and watched her laugh. She was acting like herself again, and he realized how much he had missed her.

He still had feelings for her; he had since the middle of last year. Seeing Ron and Hermione together had driven him crazy; and out of that craze came jealousy, and out of that jealousy came lust, and out of that lust came something he could only identify as love. She consumed his mind.

He shook his head and slapped himself mentally. _She's with Remus now. She's happy. Just look at her, she's glowing. _He smiled as he did in fact look at her and noticed her radiance. _Love looked good on her_, and he didn't have it in his heart to take away from that. If he dumped his feelings on her now, it would only bring back that sad, distant, worried, and confused Hermione from a couple of weeks ago, and that was something he hoped he never had to witness again.

"And I just **love** that lovely new shade of pink that Snape is wearing, don't you Hermione?"

"Yes Ron, I think it really does something for his eyes. What do you think Harry?"

"Mhhmm….. wait, WHAT?" and he frantically looked around for the said professor to be clad in pink, nearly knocking over his glass of orange juice.

Ron and Hermione burst into hysterical laughter while Harry just sat there looking confused.

"Snape's not wearing pink, "Hermione assured him. "We didn't think you were paying attention and that proved it."

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "What were you saying?"

They continued their chatting until Professor Dumbledore called for everyone's attention.

"Students and faculty," he began, "as you are well aware, you have been called here for an important announcement that must be discussed." Not in one of his usual make-the-moment-last-as-long-as-it-possibley-can-and-then-some moods, he pressed right along. "In the early hours of the morning, the Ministry of Magic was attacked." He paused as the room filled with everyone's whispers and murmurs. Everyone seemed shocked except for the teachers who were members of the Order, half of the Slytherin table, and Hermione. Hermione was looking directly at Remus, trying to catch his eye. When she finally did, she nodded and hoped that he understood what she was trying to tell him.

"The building was burned to the ground, and several people are known to have been killed and injured." Again he paused for the crowd to converse. "The authorities are doing everything that it is in their power to do, and have been working non-stop since the occurrence this morning."

"For those of you that may have parents or other relations working at the Ministry, I will cut this short so that you may attempt to contact them. I wish you good luck. My condolences to those who may discover unfortunate news. You are dismissed."

The Hall immediately became frantic as students whose parents worked at the Ministry panicked. At that moment, owls in the dozens began swarming into the room with letters. After reading their letters, some students sighed in relief, while others broke down in hysterical sobs.

A letter was addressed to Ron and Ginny. They opened it together, and Harry and Hermione stood by for the news. After an excruciatingly long time, both Weaslys looked up and smiled; everything was alright in the Weasly family. Ginny left to catch up with her friends, and the trio began walking.

"Come on," Harry said. "Let's go to Dumbledore again to get more information. Surely there will be an Order meeting sometime soon." He decidedly walked in the direction of the office, Ron following close behind.

"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you later." Hermione called after them.

The boys paused for a moment. They knew where she was going.

"Alright." Harry said. "We'll tell you anything we find out."

"Thanks." And with that, Hermione ran in the direction of Remus's rooms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione was on her way to Remus's rooms in a hurry. She must not have been looking where she was going, for she ran directly into Snape, and didn't even have a corner to blame for it.

"MISS GRANGER" he spat with his customary Slytherin sneer, "**DO** watch where you are going."

She was surprised he didn't take off housepoints, but she wasn't going to point that out. "I'm sorry, professor." She started to continue on.

"Miss _Grange_r," Snape said again.

"Yes?"

He looked as if what he were about to say caused him immense amounts of pain. "I have been informed that you are to learn how to make Wolfsbane from me." He paused. "If I didn't need the help I would be appalled at the Headmaster's suggestion but under the circumstances… I do believe if there is one other person in this facility that is capable of doing it even remotely correct, it is you."

Hermione was shocked. Had the 'evil Potions master' just suggested she was capable? _What happened to "insufferable-know-it-all?" _she thought. The only times she had ever seen this slightly 'nicer' side of Snape was at Order meetings and stays at Sirius's house; but she had never seen it while on Hogwarts grounds before.

"So," He continued on, choosing to ignore the look on her face, "Monday you are to report to the classroom at precisely 8pm. Do not be late or it will earn you a detention."

She nodded before replying boldly. "Yes sir. And Professor?"

He raised his eyebrow, obviously shocked that there could possibly be anything more to discuss about it.

"Are… Are you… ok?"

His expression slightly softened. If it had been any other student he probably would have been very startled at the question. But since she knew of his Order work as a double agent…. For lack of better terms…. he knew that she was talking about the previous night's attack.

"Yes Miss Granger, I am fine. Now go, we will all discuss everything later."

She grinned slightly. With a nod from the professor, she turned and continued running towards Remus's rooms.

"SLOW DOWN MISS GRANGER!" he bellowed after her, "or you'll wind up plowing into someone else…."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

When she finally got to Remus's door, she didn't even bother to knock. He had told her the password a while back. She barged into the room and headed straight towards his bedroom when she saw that he wasn't in the living room or kitchen.

"Remus….?" She shouted as she threw the door open.

"Bloody hell Hermione!" he exclaimed as he jumped a few feet off of the ground.

"Good, you're here." She sighed. "Come on, let's talk."

"Well can I put some clothes on at least?" He was standing in his boxers in front of his closet, obviously fresh out of the shower.

"No." and with that she grabbed him by the arm and led him to sit on the bed. He couldn't help but smile at the finality in her voice.

She crawled up on the bed and lay down, pulling Remus with her. She didn't know what had prompted her to do it; she'd never even been in there before until the previous night. _But that didn't count_, she thought. She just felt like she needed him to hold her, and as if reading her thoughts, he did.

"Now you have to tell me about last night."

He sighed as he kissed the top of her head. "Hermione, love. There's not much else to know."

"Yes there is. What about that note that they found there? And what else did you all find out? And Dumbledore got another owl this morning and I just know it was about it."

"Ok, I guess there is more to tell. The note seemed to be a warning. And all else that we've found out so far is that the dark mark was indeed spotted over the building beforehand, and that the reason the Deatheaters pillaged the place was because they were looking for something…. More precisely they were looking for information about a certain something."

"What did the note say?"

"It said something to the affect of 'The fallen tear will be the fall of you.' At the top, and then below it said, 'We will stop at nothing to find the One that holds it.' Dumbledore seemed to see something in that, but we didn't."

Hermione's mind was already connecting her necklace to the short letter.

"Surely Snape knows something about what they were after, doesn't he?"

"Actually no. He wasn't given the task of finding whatever it was. He actually had to follow Voldemort around and protect him; a very high point of responsibility." He paused. "Hermioine, are you alright?"

"Umm… yes, I'm fine." She lied as she snuggled closer to Remus. "Actually, no I'm not." She turned her head so that she was looking Remus in the eye.

"What's wrong?"

She paused. "I know exactly what that note was referring to. Do you see this necklace?" She pulled it out of her shirt.

"Yes, you always wear it so of course I've seen it. Why?"

"This is what they're after. I've talked to Dumbledore about it and he agrees. It's called the Tear of Artimpassa. He wouldn't tell me any more about it, so I'm just going to have to figure it out on my own."

"WHAT? You mean to tell me that Dumbledore is letting you walk around freely with that thing, and he won't even tell you to what extent of danger you're in?" Remus was sitting up now and raising his voice.

"Well…. Yes. But to be fair he DID get an owl that interrupted him…"

"I'll give him an owl…" Remus growled. "And I'll shove it right up his…"

"Remus! Really. I can't be in that much danger at the moment, or else he would have told me right? This IS Dumbledore we're talking about." She patted his arm lovingly to calm him down.

"I guess you're right. Tonight there is a meeting at Sirius's house, and I know that you, Ginny, and the boys are expected to be there. So. Make sure they know and that you are all there by 5, the meeting will start at 5:30."

"Alright, we'll be there." She leaned up and kissed him lightly and then started to get off of the bed and leave.

"And where do you think you're going Missy?" he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back towards him.

"I.. Err.. Was leaving." She laughed. "Am I not anymore?"

"No." he said and pulled her close. He flicked his wand and the curtains over the windows drew together, blocking out all light.

"Honestly, Remi, I can't see a thing." She said as she climbed back onto the bed.

"I know." He whispered just before capturing her lips with his own.

Fireworks flew, time was on their side, and they were going to take advantage of it. Passion arose and they quickly approached the point of no return. Everything was new to Hermione, and she was both excited and scared of what she thought was going to be the next step. Suddenly, Remus stopped kissing her and opened the blinds again.

"Ahhh, that's so bright!" Hermione complained as she shielded her eyes. Remus came back and sat directly in front of her.

"Look at me Hermione." He commanded. She did, but was surprised at the tine of his voice. "Do you realize that we almost… I mean to say we were very close to…" he was struggling with words.

"Yes Remus, I know." She said, trying to make things easier for the both of them.

At this, they looked into each other's eyes, and Hermione could see the doubt in his. It pulled at her heart so she continued to talk. "If I didn't want to be here, I wouldn't be. We love each other, and that's all that matters."

He smiled and she could see some of the skepticism leave his eyes. He took her hands and kissed them both. "But be honest, love. Right now isn't the time for er… that to happen. Don't you agree?"

She thought for a moment. "I suppose you're right. But when the time does come, it will be special… for us Remus."

His eyes lit up and searched her face at what she had just suggested. She nodded, and he hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek. "Yes love, I promise it will. I will make sure it's something you will never, ever forget."

**A/N: Ok, end of this chapter. A lil bit short, but yeah there you go.**

**Artimpassa is the Scythian goddess of love and the moon. Look her up if u don't believe me. : )**

**Preview of next chapter: At Sirius's house, Order meeting. The truth of Hermione's necklace will be revealed, and a little something else will be too………… :)**


	9. Out of Order

_disclaimer: While i do own the books and movies, i do not own the characters or Hogwarts in any shape, form, or fashion. Only the plot is mine._

The sun was beginning to set in the sky as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny walked towards the gates of Hogwarts. The leaves on the trees were vibrant shades of reds, oranges, and yellows, and the last rays of light were dancing across them. Once they were outside the gates, the four of them apparated to Grimmauld Place.

They got there at the same time as Ginny and Ron's parents, who immediately hustled over to the kids. Hugs and handshakes went all the way around.

"Ronald Weasly, how could you leave your room with your hair sticking up like that?" Mrs. Weasly clicked her tongue as she tried in vain to flatten her youngest boy's hair. Ron ducked and squirmed to avoid her, then kissed her on top of the head before running in the door after his friends. She watched him run off, and couldn't help but smile in admiration.

XXXXXXXX

As they entered the door, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny heard people's voices coming from the living room. Shedding their jackets in the hall, they followed the voices. When they opened the door to the living room, they could see most of the Order was already in there, talking casually as if they were at a party. Everyone was sitting down; there were enough couches and chairs for all. Under any other circumstances, the students would have stuck together. But since they were in a room full of their most trusted family and friends, they split apart to fill the remaining empty seats. Harry sat in the seat that Sirius had been saving him and received a fatherly hug and a ruffling of the hair., Ginny between her parents, while Ron sat uncomfortably between Snape and McGonagall. Hermione automatically scanned the room for a particular werewolf…

She looked around for a couple of minutes before spotting Remus sitting on a love seat. Tonks was standing in front of it, chatting away. He was smiling up at her, and it looked as if she were about to ask if she could sit next to him.

XXXXXXX

Everyone who knew them thought that Tonks and Remus had something going on, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Tonks did flirt shamelessly with him, but Remus didn't return the gesture in the least bit. The girl got on his nerves, and it was all he could do to not tell her to shut up and go away. Instead, when she approached him, he had tried to avoid her all together. That never worked.

"Oh Remus, whatcha doin here?" She had said as she hopped over to him.

"Nyphadora, I am here for the same reason as you and all of the other fine members of society that are in this room, I'm here for the Order meeting."

She cringed at the use of her given name. "Aw whatcha have to use that name for? You know I prefer Tonks." She paused. "And anyway, I didn't mean whatcha doing HERE, silly, I meant whatcha doing sitting here on this loveseat all alone?" She smiled suggestively.

_Oh Merlin._ He plastered a fake smile on his face as he frantically tried to think of an excuse. _I have some disease. Yes. A disease that is so foreign and rare that she's never heard of it. And if she doesn't get away from me, she's likely to catch it. _Remus was literally about to tell her the little fib when he saw Hermione looking at them. Relief washed over him, and he let out the breath that he didn't realize he had been holding. He was going to try to tell her to come over there, when she suddenly turned on heel and ran out of the room, a hurt expression in her eyes.

_Bloody hell, what happened? _He was on his feet in an instant.

"Remus, you scared the bejeebees out of me!"

He ignored Tonk's babbleTONKS! Hermione had seen them together and gotten the wrong idea!_ I let her run out on me one time_, he thought. _And I'm not going to risk losing her again. _He didn't care that everyone in the room had seen Hermione run out of the room, and he cared even less that they all watched with puzzled expressions on their faces as he ran out after her, especially Tonks.

He had a feeling that he knew where Hermione had gone. She had a favorite refuge (besides the library) that she could often be found at when she was at Grimmauld Place. She thought it was a secret, but he'd watched her countless times. So he climbed up the stairs, and then up the stairs that led onto the roof. Many other people in the house liked to stargaze, so the 'being on the roof' part wasn't the secret.

He cursed at his lack of common sense because he hadn't brought a jacket out either for him or for Hermione. He rubbed his hands together as he turned to his left and strode across the rooftop. When he got to the edge, he hesitated before he jumped off.

There were many large bay windows on Sirius's house, but this one in particular was on the back. Many years ago, the large, elegant, bronze dormer-rooftop had been ripped off of it in a storm, leaving a flat roof of concrete. It was very wide and long, so there was no fear of slipping and falling off. Many nights had he came and unknowingly watched Hermione sit on that ledge, much like he was doing now. But there was one thing that was painfully different on this night; Hermione was crying.

His heart threatened to fall apart at the sight and sound of his love crying, and because of stupid Tonks none-the-less! He couldn't wait any longer, so he jumped down on the ledge a few feet away from her so as to not startle her too badly.

She didn't even look up. "What do you want, Remus?" she said as she struggled to control the tremble in her voice.

He wanted to rush to her and cling to her tightly, but realized it probably wasn't the time given her current condition. "I'd be damned if I was going to lose you again because of some little misunderstanding. I didn't chase after you that night in the tavern, and I regretted it every day. But I'm here now." His voice had started out strong and passionate, but by the last sentence had dropped down to a gentle whisper. She chanced a look up at him. Her eyes were still blurry with tears, but even through them she could see the emotion on the man's face.

"I saw you and Tonks," she began. "And everything that people have said about the two of you came flooding back to me. When we first got together, Remus, I thought about Tonks. Whether or not there ever really was something with you. I quickly decided that everyone else must have been wrong, and I never gave it another second's thought. But when I saw you in there just now…. I thought that I must have been wrong. I could read her body language; the hand on the hip, the tossing her head when she laughed, she wants you. And she's older then me, prettier then me, bubblier then me…. So why would you possibly want me when you could have her? When you smiled at her, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to get away, had to think." At this she broke down again, and Remus sat down beside her and put both of his arms around her.

He spoke quietly to her as he began to rock her. "Hermione, baby. Don't cry, please. Me and Tonks, there never was anything between us, and there never, EVER will be. Especially now that I have you. And how could you compare yourself to her, eh? You're so much smarter, so mature, so lady-like, so perfect! Every little thing about you. From the way you chew you quill when your thinking, to the way you twirl your curls when you're not. From the way you furrow your brow when you're taking notes to the heavenly little sighs you make in your sleep." He paused. " She is older then you, but doesn't act it. She is bubblier then you, and it gets on my nerves so bad. But my love, she cannot compare to your beauty. No being on Earth nor any angel in the heavens can."

"Oh Remus," she said as she slapped his arm lightly, "you don't have to lie like that."

He inhaled the scent of her hair deeply and whispered huskily in her ear, "Oh Hermione, but I'm not." Chills ran up and down both of their bodies, but not from the bitter November wind. "Only you can do this to me. Only you cause this fire in my heart that travels through my entire body withthis... bittersweet burning." She was glad she was sitting down or else her knees would have given out.

He turned her face up towards his and could see that same flame dancing in her eyes that he knew was in his own. That was all it took. He kissed her andpulled her as close as was humanly possible. His breath warm on her skin, he whispered, "Hermione Granger, I love you with all of my body, mind, and soul, and I always will. Never doubt it, ever." At that, he pulled her into a fervent kiss. He traced his tongue against her lips, parting them and plunging into her mouth.

She moaned in approval. His arms found their way around her waist, and hers were linked around his neck. She leaned back, pulling him down ontop of her. Her necklace glowed brightly as they continued to express their emotions without words.

When they parted, they looked up at the sky. "Remus, I'm sorry. I love you so much, and it just hurt."

A shooting star glided across the sky, as if on cue.

"Shhh… love. It's ok. Now make a wish."

They both silently made their wishes…..

_I wish I can stay with this man forever._

_I wish I can stay with this woman forever. _

They stood, and Remus took her hand. "Come on, love. I could stay out here forever with you. But they're going to miss us."

Hermionestood up, only to start kissing his neck. "Oh my **god** 'Mione…. you can't do that to me, not right now."

She giggled. "That's ok, we can re-schedule."

He helped her climb back up, and then he lept back up on the roof. They walked back to the entrance to the house below, and climbed down the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Remus?" Tonks asked. She followed after him as he ran out of the room. She saw him run up the stairs and then up the ones to the roof. _I'll get us a blanket; this could turn out alright after all_! She thought to herself. She grabbed a blanket that was laying on a chair in the entrance hall and scurried up after him.

When she got on the roof, she didn't see him anywhere. Deciding that maybe she'd seen wrong, she started to go back inside. But then she heard him.

"I'd be damned if I was going……"

She heard his voice raised, and decided to follow the direction it had come from.

When she got close to the edge, she decided that he was down on a ledge. She started to go down there with him, when she heard _her;_ Hermione. Thinking that perhaps Hermione was getting in trouble by Remus for being on that ledge, she stayed above so that she couldn't be seenor heard. It was then that she began to actually listen to the conversation between them.

Hermione was asking Remus about their (Tonks and Remus') relationship. Deciding that it might be an interesting conversation after all, Tonks perked her ears up, hoping for some insight.

_"Hermione, baby. Don't cry, please. Me and Tonks, there never was anything between us, and there never, EVER will be. Especially now that I have you. And how could you compare yourself to her, eh? You're so much smarter, so mature, so lady-like, so perfect! Every little thing about you. From the way you chew you quill when your thinking, to the way you twirl your curls when you're not. From the way you furrow your brow when you're taking notes to the look of pure joy when you accomplish something." He paused. " She is older then you, but doesn't act it. She is bubblier then you, and it gets on my nerves so bad. But my love, she cannot compare to your beauty. No being on Earth nor any angel in the heavens can."_

Tonks' eyes grew huge at the realization of what was being said hit her. She was appalled that not only did the man she'd been chasing for the last few years not like her, but he was…. hitting on a student! By now she was glued to her place.

She heard Hermione denying what he'd just said. _"Atta girl, 'Mione. You tell him." _She thought. _Put that man in his place._

As the conversation went on though, Tonks quickly came to the realization that Remus wasn't hitting on Hermione, it was much deeper then that. They were…. INVOLVED! When she heard them kiss and heard Hermione's moan, it was all she could take. She ran back across the roof and back inside, silent tears streaming down her face.

When she got back to the library, everyone was shocked to see her in tears.

"What's wrong, Tonks?" Mrs. Weasly asked. "Did you and Remus have a fight?" At this she burst out in more hysterical sobs, but shook her head.

She could barely speak; all she could say was "Remus….. Hermione….."

"What's wrong with Remus and Hermione, are they hurt?" McGonagall asked hurriedly.

She shook her head. "Doesn't…. like….me……likes……her!" Nobody could tell what she had just said except for Ron and Harry.

_Uh-Oh_, they said to each other with glances.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Remus and Hermione walked into the library expecting no more then for the meeting to have started without them. Instead, they were greeted with hysterical sobs from Tonks and everyone else in a frenzy.

"What's going on here?" Remus asked.

"We don't know," Snape spat, seemingly unfazed by Tonks' breakdown. On the inside though, he was hurting for her. However, nobody knew of his feelings about the girl with bubblegum pnk hair, so he was standing off to the side, as would be expected of him. "All she keeps saying is your name and Hermione's name."

Hermione and Remus looked at each other. Now the _Uh-Oh's_ were going around between all 4 of them. (Remus, Hermione, Ron, and Harry.)

"Do you have any idea what's wrong with her?" Dumbledore asked the two of them. The twinkle in his eyes went unnoticed by anyone except for Harry. He cocked his head to the side as he realized that Dumbledore knew about the affair. _How does he do it?_ He wondered in amazement before turning back to his professor and best friend.

"What is said inside of this room and during these meetings is not to leave here, am I correct, Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione asked confidently.

"Why, yes Miss Granger, I do believe that is the rule," his eyes twinkled.

Remus understood what she was getting at, and took her hand. He closed his eyes for a moment and bit his lower lip before beginning. "We… that is to say Hermione and I are…together."

It took everyone a second to grasp what he had just said, but when the realization hit them, many looks and gasps were going around the room.

"You can't be serious!" someone said.

"We're quite serious." Remus said.

"As a matter of fact, we've been together for nearly 3 months." Hermione announced.

At this, Tonks burst out sobbing again.

"Now then. I know some, or most I should say, of you don't approve of this. But I **AM** 18, 19 with the time-turner. And I am completely capable of making my own decisions. Have you all not always trusted my judgment?"

"Yes dear, but…" Mrs. Weasly began. "But this is REMUS, and YOU."

"She's older then you were when you and dad got together," Ginny pointed out in her friend's defense, leaving her mother struggling with words. Arthur put his arm around his wife and simply nodded.

Dumbledore began. " I think it says something for both of their characters that they decided to come out in the open with us." He paused. "Normally I wouldn't condone student-teacher relationships. However. Hermione has proven herself more than capable of handling situations correctly. And if this is what she judges to be right for her…for them… then I think she has earned the right to judge. And Remus. I know that everyone in this room would trust him with their very life. He will take care of her." He paused. "This is not to be discussed AT ALL outside of this room. If the information leaks, I WILL get to the bottom of it.

Now, let's discuss the reason we all came here, shall we?" he said, his tone suggesting that the previous conversation was completely over.

"The attack on the Ministry of Magic. Is there anyone in this room that wasn't aware that it happened?" he paused as nobody spoke up. "Good, good."

He continued on to discuss the little that was known, all of which Hermione already had been informed of. Throughout Dumbledore's talking, various people in the room would glare towards the loveseat that Remus and Hermione were sitting on.

"Hermione, do you have it with you?" Dumbledore asked her.

She nodded and walked towards the front of the room while pulling her necklace out of her shirt. She stopped in front of a window. Moonbeams hit her, and the necklace glowed. "Ooohs," and "Ahhs" came from everyone's mouth; it really was enchanting, especially to those who had never seen it before.

"That is the Tear of Atimpassa," Dumbledore continued, "and the very thing that Voldemort and his followers plumaged the ministry searching for information on."

"Well did they get anything?" Ginny voiced.

"I am afraid that they stumbled across more then they were even anticipating…" Snape began. "While they didn't find direct information about it, they found the prophecy concerning it… the only known record of it."

"So let me get this straight," Harry said. "There was a prophecy concerning the War and the stone AND Hermione, and nobody thought to put it in another place…. Just in case something like this were to happen?" his voice was rising and it was all he could do to stop at that point.

Nobody answered him for a long time. Eventually, Snape spoke up. "I was with Him when he bid the orb that the prophecy was stored in to tell him…" he shook his head. "Not exactly WITH him, I was standing guard outside the door. The only other person in the room with him was Lucius." He chose his next words carefully. "At the moment, I can't remember what it said, but perhaps if we withdraw my memory of that night, it could shed some light on this."

"Excellent idea, Servus." Dumbledore smiled. "Tomorrow will extract it.

"Are there any final words before we dismiss?" nobody seemed to have anything to say, so Dumbledore continued.

"As I have said before. What is said at this house under the pretense of a Meeting is not to leave here. Is that understood?" he asked in one of the harshest voices anyone had ever heard him use, causing everyone to wriggle like first-years. As they all nodded their heads though, the harsh expression left his face and was replaced with his usual cheerful one. "Good. You are dismissed."

As everyone stood up, Hermione and Remus couldn't help but notice the looks they were getting. Some were utterly shocked, some seemed angry, but most just seemed curious. Sirius ran up to them as soon as he could.

"Moony you old fur-ball, what have you gotten yourself into, and why didn't you tell me?" he laughed good-naturedly as he hugged Remus with a look of pure joy on his face.

"And you, my dear. What's a pretty little thing like you doing with this old guy here?" he laughed as he kissed her on the head, " If I had know you were into older guys, I would have wooed you ages ago!" He joked. He knew it, Hermione knew it, and even Remus knew it; but that couldn't tame the feeling of jealousy that had just welled up inside of Remus. He glared at his best friend, which in turn earned him a slap on the back from him and a giggle from Hermione.

"Just imagine the lonely nights I will spend dreaming of holding you in my arms 'Mione, and knowing you can not be mine." He winked at her. He loved messing with Remus like this!

Now Remus couldn't suppress the fury that was building up inside of him. He let out a low growl and balled his fist.

"Come on now Moony I was only joshing ya. Relax amigo! I love Hermione as a sister, or as a DAUGHTER. I will not interfere with the romance here. I'm actually glad the two of you are together." He paused as he ruffled Remus' hair as if he were a kid. "Well, I'm going to run now. Have to play the 'eager host' part. Owl me later!" and he was off with a handshake with Remus and a kiss on the cheek for Hermione.

Remus stared after him, imagining how great it would feel to hex him to oblivion. He was brought back to reality by Hermione taking his hand. "Come on, let's go talk to people and prove we're still sane."

They made their way around the house full of people. The person they were most concerned about though was Tonks.

"She's not going to want to talk to me." Hermione told Remus as they gazed at Tonks' lone figure sitting in a windowsill in the kitchen. "Go to her."

Remus looked scared to death, but he knew Hermione was right. He had to talk to her and try to make amends. So he kissed Hermione on the cheek and left her with Harry and Ron as he entered he kitchen.

"Tonks," he said quietly. She snapped her head in his direction and he could see the freshly poured tears there.

She tried in vain to wipe the tears away, and managed to ask him bitterly, "What do YOU want?"

"I'm sorry if I led you on, and I'm sorry that you had to find out the way that you did." He hesitated. "Is there anything I can do so that you will forgive me? I would hate to lose a friend through this."

She looked out the window before looking him square in the face and sighing. "Remus, I've already forgiven you. Who I haven't forgiven here is me. I should have noticed that you weren't into me. I should have seen that you didn't want to be with me like I did with you. I was being childish, really, in chasing you around like I did. I've forgiven you, do you forgive me?"

"Of course Tonks, there's nothing really to forgive. So after this can we be fine in being friends?"

"Yes we can."

"So no hard feelings… not even towards Hermione?"

Tonks had to think for a second before answering. "Hmm…. And no hard feelings towards Hermione." She recited like a child being punished.

Remus smiled and walked up to her. He kissed her on the forehead in a brotherly way, and could see the conflicting emotions in her eyes.

"Now go get her Remus." She sighed. "She's waiting on you."

They smiled at each other, and Remus fled the room in search of his love.

XXXXXXXXXX

It took a while, but by the time they left, they were sure that most people were getting over their initial shock of them being together. They walked out the door together after Hermione assured Harry and Ron that she would see them in the morning. Remus and Hermione apparated back to the Hogwarts gates. They strolled around the grounds, talking and holding hands like the young lovers that they were.

When Hermione yawned, Remus gently guided her towards the castle and up to her room. He tucked her into her bed and kissed her lips gently.

"Goodnight my love," he whispered in the dark as he tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

"Goodnight." She said through another yawn. He left quickly, because he knew if he didn't then he wouldn't be able to.

_A/N: ok so there's chapter 9. this one just kinda wrote itself, not much thinking required on my part, and that's always a plus. :) And don't worry, you'll eventually get to see the prophecy, just give it time._


	10. Confessions

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything here except the plot, everything else would belong to jkr, our queen. : ) **

The next Monday arrived earlier then seemed possible. The day after the brief Order meeting had been Friday, and the classes had carried on as usual, expect for Hermione's Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Hermione and Remus shared many small glances, smiles, and attempted to hide their laughs that would well up from time to time. They thought they had done a pretty good job of hiding their little flirtations, but it didn't seem that was the case. Harry and Ron brought it up first, which didn't surprise her very much. They had been keeping a very close eye on her ever since the Halloween ball. Almost nothing happened concerning her that they didn't know about.

She thought the hassling would end with them, but that wasn't the end of it. Next was Ginny. Still in her circle of friends, she didn't mind Ginny mentioning it. If anything, Ginny was the only girl that Hermione could really talk to. Next though were Padma and Parvati. As she walked through the Gryffindor common room on Saturday morning, she received catcalls from them.

"Off to see Professor Lupin, Hermione?" Padma questioned with an air of accusation. Parvati giggled, and Hermione just rolled her eyes at them, hoping that they would decide she thought they were being complete lunatics. But every time she ran into them during the weekend, they would smile knowingly at her, and it was all she could do to not curse them on the spot. She had never been one to worry about reputations, but she definitely didn't want the rumor going around that she was seeing a teacher, even though it was true. She just wasn't ready for that kind of openness yet.

So when Monday did arrive, Hermione went through her day as she normally did. She desperately hoped that the Patil girls wouldn't continue with their questioning, and they didn't. All they would do was smile at her still. But that she could live with.

When it was time for her to meet Snape in the Potions room, she told the boys where she was going and they hurriedly scrambled to their feet as if to follow her.

"I'll be fine," she sighed as a grin flickered across her face. They didn't look very happy about it, but they relented and sat back down to their game of chess. She gathered her parchment, quill, and wand and headed down to the dungeons.

XXXXXXXXXXX

When she arrived at the Potions door she paused. The thought that this wasn't going to be a very pleasant evening was being balanced out by the slight chance that it might actually be ok. Snape was a little different towards her when they weren't in school, so maybe she could harness that treatment when they were working that night. She raised her hand and was about to knock on the door. "Come in." Snape said.

Puzzled as to how he knew she was there before she had even knocked, she turned the handle of the door and entered.

"How did you know I was there?"

"Honestly Miss Granger, you made enough noise bounding down the stairs that even a deaf Hypogriff could have heard you."

"Oh," she blushed as she sat her book bag down. Snape was already gathering materials from his storeroom. "Professor?"

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Why is it that you agreed to let me learn how to make this?"

He sighed. "Because in all actuality, I am swamped. And while I could manage on just fine on my own, having an additional potion maker would greatly lessen my burdens."

Hoping to act like her normal self, she continued her rambling while he set ingredients out in the desk they were in front of. "Well Professor, I have seriously been considering studying Potions at whatever University I go to." She paused and was happy to see that she had his attention. " I truly think that it is what I want to focus on, and so I was wondering what you thought about it."

"Hermione," he began, " I have……. No doubts whatsoever that you would make an excellent Potions mistress." He said all of this in a rather quiet tone, as if he were afraid someone would hear him paying her a compliment.

Hermione was still dumbfounded that he had just used her first name, and that he had yet again complimented her. She smiled up at him.

"Oh but don't you go telling the whole world that I said that, I wouldn't want to lose my 'image.'" And he actually smiled at her.

She busted out laughing at the very thought of Snape worrying about his 'image.'

He began instructing her as to how to prepare the ingredients. She was vigorously taking notes. As unlikely as it may be, they were actually having casual conversation.

"Why are you talking to me? I thought I was just an 'insufferable-know-it-all-mud-blood'?"

Snape stopped checking things off of his list and looked at her with a genuinely hurt look. "Do you honestly think that's how I think of you, Miss Granger?"

"Well…. I….. That is to say that's how you've always talked…."

"Again, image. How would it look to the Slytherins if I were to compliment a student, and a Gryffindor nonetheless? They would go running home to their parents and then I would be in worlds of trouble within the Dark Lord's circle. No. It's better to pretend."

"Oh, Professor, I never thought of it that way, I'm sorry!" He nodded curtly at her and they continued to work in silence.

"That was a crazy meeting the other night was it not?" she suggested.

"It was." He hesitated. "Just how long again have you and Remus been together again?"

"About three months."

"Incredible. I can't believe none of us could see it."

"Well we were pretty secretive. You almost caught us one time."

"Oh really?" he raised an eyebrow with curiosity and she briefly relayed the story of the night of the attack.

"…..So I had to hide in his room as you and he talked in the living room. I listened through the door…"

"AhHA, you should have been sorted into Slytherin! Sneaking and hiding and spying. If it weren't for your heritage I am sure you would have been." He said as playfully as his persona would allow him to.

"Oh well THANK YOU for your superior appraisal of me, but I fear I am not worthy of the company of Malfoy and his goons." Her tone dripped with sarcasm.

"Again another defining characteristic, sarcasm!" he smiled.

She laughed, very glad that they could talk like that, even though it was only in secret. She continued. "But yeah, everyone seemed alright with mine and Remus' relationship, well except for Tonks."

Hermione wasn't sure, but she thought she saw a slight disturbance in the rhythm that Snape had been stirring the contents of the cauldron. She continued any way. " I mean, sure everyone knows she had a thing for Remus for a while, but he just isn't her type. Not to mention he's **already taken**. But she really broke down didn't she? I think that she needs to find someone. I don't know who, but she really shouldn't be single I don't think, she's much too fun and crazy for that…" she was interrupted.

"Miss Granger," he said with all of the authority he held in class, "That is enough."

Confused, but still feeling as if they were really getting along to a certain extent, she apologized. "Oh I'm sorry, I guess I was rambling. You will have to forgive me; I tend to do that. So just tell me to shut up whenever you feel like…."

"Shut up."

She was taken aback, but did as he said and looked at him with a questioning expression. He sighed. "I just… Don't want to talk about that night if you don't mind. Talk about anything else in the world though and I will at least TRY to pay attention."

"What's wrong with that night?" she asked. Then a thought came to her. "Professor, you don't have a problem with me and Remus, do you?"

He rolled his eyes. _Oh for Merlin's sake._

"No, I have no problem whatsoever with what you do in your spare time or with whom." He stopped, but Hermione was still giving him a look that made the sliver of a conscience he had left tug. "ALRIGHT FINE! I don't want to talk about Tonks." He said her name venomously.

"Why not? Unless…" realization dawned on her. "Professor Snape, do you like Tonks?"

He winced. _Now why the bloody hell did I do that?_

He was going to say something to his own defense, but must have taken a split second too long because by then Hermione was completely sure of herself. "You DO like her! Oooh this is so fun!"

He cringed at her utter girlyness, but chose not to speak at all.

They finished up the brew of Wolfsbane in silence, and the entire time Hermione was watching Snape's expressions change. Wanting to say something but knowing she shouldn't, she waited until they were cleaning up to talk again.

"Professor?"

"Hmm?"

"I…. If you ever need me to brew any potions, I'd be more then glad to do it. I want as much practice as I can get. This one wasn't as complicated as I assumed it would be."

"No, I've never thought it was particularly challenging myself. But again, not everyone is good at Potions."

She nodded as he placed the last vile into the cupboard. It wasn't possible to avoid her gaze any longer, so he turned to face her.

"And…. I won't say anything. You know about Tonks. I swear."

He looked at her for quite some time, trying to decide if she were telling the truth. _Well if there's one Slytherin characteristic she doesn't posses, it's the ability to lie through her teeth._

"Thank you Miss Granger."

"You're quite welcome," she smiled at him. "Oh and Professor?"

"Yes?" he sighed.

"I…er….. I know that we'll be the same way towards each other **generally**. You know, me pretending to hate your guts and you pretending to want to zap me into a million pieces. But maybe during Christmas break if you are at Grimmauld place, we could talk…. like we have been tonight. I enjoyed talking with you the same way I do with Sirius and Remus." She paused and then blushed. "Well, not like I am with REMUS obviously, but you know what I mean."

He smiled and handed her her quill and notes. "I know. And yes, I do believe that would be nice, Merlin knows that there aren't many people in this world that I can have intellectual conversations with."

"Alright, it's settled then. Goodnight Professor, and thanks for helping me out."

"No problem." He cleared his throat as she opened the door, and said in his Snapiest voice, "Goodnight Miss Granger, and DO try not to run people over in the halls."

She turned around and winked at him, and then replaced it with a pretend scowl and she trudged out of the dungeons.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione had barely made it in the door to the common room when Ginny nearly yanked her arm out of its socket. "What are you **doing**?" she asked her, as she was drug towards her portrait. Ginny just pointed to it. Hermione was confused, but when she saw it, she knew what Ginny was referring to.

A man walked out of the castle in the portrait. The only somewhat defining characteristic was that he was blonde. He walked towards the back end of Hogwarts grounds and was almost to the Forbidden Forrest when a girl came running out of the castle door. Again, the only thing that could be seen for sure was that she was a brunette. She ran after the man and as she drew closer to him, a faint glow began to surround her. When she finally reached him, they fell into an embrace and the glow turned bright white and overtook the entire portrait. Then it started over again.

"How long has this been showing this?" Hermione asked shakily.

"About 3 hours. I came looking for you because I need to talk to you, but then I saw this…. And it was obvious to ME who the people are. So I went looking for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere!"

"I was in the dungeons with Snape," she said and then quickly added, "working on an extra credit assignment."

"Oh. Well anyway, I already contacted Dumbledore about it and he said that the portrait is supposed to like read your thoughts or wants or something like that. So I guess just pretend you have no idea who they are for now."

Hermione sighed and shifted her book bag on her shoulder. "I guess that's all I CAN do. Now come on into my room and tell me whatever you wanted to tell me."

They stepped into Hermione's living room and she dropped her bag by the door. Ginny walked over to the couch and plopped down as Hermione made some tea. She then brought Ginny and her own cups to the couch and sat down beside Ginny.

"Now, what's on your mind?" she said as she sipped her tea. "Wow, I so just sounded like a shrink."

"A what?"

"Nevermind. So go on, what is it?"

"Well…… what do you do if you like your friend?"

"Umm…. You always like your friends, that's kind of part of it."

"Noo no, I mean, what should I do if I LiKe a guy friend of mine?"

"Oooooh Ginny this is exciting! Who do you like?"

Ginny blushed as deeply as Ron had been seen to do from time to time. "Well, he's actually my brother's friend, but in turn that made him mine…." She smiled faintly as Hermione began to speak.

"It's Harry again isn't it?"

"Yes. Is that terribly wrong? I know that he broke it off, said he thought we would be better off as friends and all. But I can't help it. I really still like him and I don't know what to do!"

"I think I can help you out there hun. You are forgetting that I am one of his two best friends. And since I highly doubt that you want Ron telling him, I supposed that leaves me." Ginny squealed as she threw herself at Hermione.

"Would you really? Just, you know, talk to him. Find out what he thinks. I don't want him to think I'm desperate or anything like that so make it casual. OH and don't let him know that I know you're talking about it, ok?" she took a deep breath because she had seemed to forget to breathe at all in the past minute.

"Of course I really will. When the time is right. I can't assure you when that will be, since we're all so busy lately. But I promise you I will do it, and I'll tell you everything that happens, I promise."

"Thanks 'Mione."

"No problem. I really miss you. Like I said I've been so bust with this Artimpassa thing I haven't been able to be very social."

"I've found absolutely nothing on that bloody thing, have you?"

"Only a little. I've found out that Artimpassa is the Scythian Goddess of the moon and of love, go figure. So that makes sense that when I'm umm…. **WITH** Remus the thing goes crazy. Love obviously, and the MOON, and Remus is a werewolf… it pretty well ties to me and him. And the Tear of Artimpassa is supposedly an actual tear she shed. The legend goes that she fell in love with a mortal whom she was having an affair with. He died in a tragic accident, and she shed only this single tear for her love. From then on, she became bitter towards mortals, specifically those who go out of their way to hurt others. And that's all I've been able to find out."

"Well it's more then me anyway!"

They continued to chat about random things for nearly an hour before Ginny remembered a monstrous paper she had due in the morning. With a quick hug and goodbye to Hermione, Ginny ran back through the portrait and into the Gryffindor common room.

Hermione sighed and ran her hands through her mane of curls. _It's been a long day; I need a shower._ So she locked the portrait holes so that nobody would invade, put a silencing charm on her rooms, turned her radio up loud, and headed for the bathroom to shower.

XXXXXXXXXXX

30 minutes later she stepped out of the shower and grabbed her thick terrycloth robe from the hook on the door. She put it on for habit's sake, but didn't bother to tie it. She walked out of the bathroom and took the two steps between the bathroom door and her bedroom door. Not bothering to close the door, she rummaged through her dresser and closet in search of clothes. She finally pulled a tshirt that hung all the way down to her knees over her head and then went back to the bathroom to hang the towels up. She then picked up a comb and combed through her long brown locks, and once all the tangles were out she shook her hair loose and let it dry and do as it pleased.

Now feeling thoroughly better, she decided to go back to her kitchen and get some more of the tea she had made. As she stood behind the bar, she happened to glance up towards her livingroom. Her mouth opened in astonishment first, then she smiled brightly.

"How long have you been there?" she asked him.

Remus chuckled. "45 minutes perhaps? You were in the shower so I decided to wait on you to get out." He paused as she came and sat on his lap. The necklace had already began to glow more. "And I'm glad I did."

"Did you see me?"

"Yes my love, I couldn't exactly help myself from watching you. It was all I could do to not jump you right then."

_Well why didn't you?_

"Because that would be the very wolfish thing to do now wouldn't it?"

Hermione looked startled. "Why'd you say that?"

"Well," Remus said as he frowned, "it's the truth?… You asked me why I didn't jump you and," he was interrupted.

"I never asked that. I thought about asking, but I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm very sure."

_Well that's bloody freaky_.

"Ya it is."

Now it was Remus' turn to be surprised. "What were you saying 'ya it is' in reply to?"

"You said, 'well that's bloody freaky' and I agreed."

"Hermione, I never said that, I thought it too."

They looked at each other, and then down at the necklace around Hermione's neck.

"Do you think we can…." Hermione began.

"… read each others minds because of this necklace." Remus finished for her as he examined it. "And yes I guess I do."

"This really is weird."

"Definitely." He said. He pulled her even closer. "But I promise, we WILL get to the bottom of this. Though I have to say, I like being able to read your thoughts." He whispered as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh really? And why is that?" she asked with mock-innocence.

"Because I know that you want me to do this," and with that he kissed her. They were both tired mentally but not physically. So they continued for quite a while before they stopped. Both of their hearts were racing and the necklace was glowing brilliantly.

_The living room may be a fine place to make out, but I'd rather not have to sleep here_. Hermione thought.

_Well, off to your room then. _Remus thought back. They smiled and stood and he walked her to her room.

Hermione climbed into bed and Remus pulled the covers up over her like he had done before.

_Stay with me._

Remus' ears perked up and if it hadn't been dark in the room he would have searched her eyes. He thought he had heard her, or read her thoughts, but he could have been imagining it.

_My own desire is messing with my mind._ He thought. _She didn't tell me to stay._

_Yes I did._ And with that Hermione took his hand and pulled him up on the bed. He didn't object.

"if you insist, 'Mione."

"I do, Moony."

_I love you._

_I love you too._

_But Hermione, nothing is going to happen tonight. It's not the time yet. I know we've talked about this before, but I really need to make this clear. No matter what we WANT to do, we won't let it get that far. Ok?_

_Yes, I understand and I agree. The time will come and I'll be ready for you, but not right now. But that doesn't mean that we can't do other things……….._

At this, Remus growled lowly in her ear and Hermione giggled but pulled him over her. This time, Hermione kissed him, softly but magically. They continued and seemed to get more passionate by the second. Neither of them remembered falling asleep that night, all they remembered was waking up in each others arms the next morning.

A/N: Ok, while Artimpassa is really the goddess of love and the moon, I made up that legend. Completely fiction, so don't like go writing a paper about it or something because you will fail it.

And I'm srry this has taken so long to get up! School started back and I've been swamped. I think the next chappie should be up by this weekend.

Don't forget to review!


	11. Trusting Thoughts

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but my plot!**

Hermione was known to be a diligent and determined witch, but even her best friends had never seen her work and research as much as she was. The Tear of Artimpassa consumed her mind, and therefore consumed a good portion of the boys' lives. It wasn't that she was being bitter or snappish towards them; she was just usually too tired to joke much or to help them with their work. It being their 7th year, the boys had long since realized that they had come to depend on Hermione's studious guidance, and without it they were lost. They were already helping her as much as they possibly could, but they decided that grumbling or complaining about it wasn't going to get them anywhere. So instead, they offered to take shifts throughout the week. Hermione had to prodded to do so, but in the end she agreed. She really had been working too much on the research, and she could use more schoolwork time as well as more free time.

Each day, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny would rotate spending hours upon end in the library scouring the shelves for books that might have contained any information. Remus would help out independently, thoguh he had a lot to do what with being a teacher, but he did his best. For the first couple of days of freedom, Hermione was relieved and grateful. But after a week of the rotations, she began to grow antsy about the situation. So, she would sneak behind everyone elses back and research every single day again. She would go to the library at night to get books, then she would hide them in her rooms.

She didn't want to tell her friends that their help wasn't good enough, but she did tell Remus what she was up to. One day after class, Hermione stayed behind to talk to him. As soon as he realized she was staying, he got up and bolted the door.

" 'Mione," he began as he pulled her into his arms, "I've missed you. We've both been so busy, I don't think we've been alone together in forever."

"I know, it's almost been two whole weeks" she said sadly, "It's terrible isn't it?"

"You look tired love, what's wrong?"

"I've been researching so much, but still haven't come across anything helpful."

"But I thought with the rotations…."

She laughed. "Honestly, you know me. Did you really think I could sleep at night if I DIDN'T spend all my free time on this?" A worried expression crossed her face.

"Well if you weren't sleeping at night and if you weren't spending time studying, I'm sure I could think of other things to occupy you." He suggested as he smiled a wolfish grin.

"Oh Remus," she blushed as she hit him lightly on the arm. _Tell me more._

Remus cleared his throat then looked at her knowingly. "But really. I'll help. At night I'll help you research, ok?"

"Really? Oh thank you! The boys wouldn't understand that I just don't feel like the search is thorough if I'm not doing it myself."

"Yes really."

She hesitated. "Well we can't start tonight, because tonight all of Gryffindor are having some sort of party. They're wanting to sleep in sleeping bags in the common room floor, roast marshmallows in the fireplace, sing songs, tell ghost stories, and stay up all night." She giggled. "I guess they wanted to try out some 'muggle' things that they learned in muggle studies class. And I really am supposed to be there."

Remus chuckled. "That sounds like something we would have done back when I was in school. They'll probably end up setting the whole place on fire." He paused. "We can start working after Christmas break."

"Wait, why after Christmas break?" she asked as if she had been asked to wait until the end of time.

"Because, the full moon is tomorrow night. And after that there are only 2 days until the break. And if I have to tie you up in a chair and take your wand away to keep you from spending all of your free time studying if you come to Grimmauld any, I will do it."

"OH!" She said with a voice full of concern. "I thought you looked a little worn out but I figured it had just been a rough day." _In all of the time we've been together, this is the first time I've been aware of his changes. How is that possible?_

"Because," he said, "every time the full moon has come around in the past months, it's been when either you were very busy or you were gone or we hadn't seen each other in ages…. Or that time we were apart."

She looked startled for only a moment before remembering their temporary split. "I want to stay with you tomorrow night then."

"No." he said coldly.

Hermione was bewildered."What do you mean no?"

"That's exactly what I mean. You are not going to be around me when I change. No no no no no. It's dangerous."

"I DO believe I am completely capable of taking care of myself."

"HA!" he laughed darkly, "Nobody can defend themselves against a werewolf."

"But if this is going to work out between us, I at least have to be around you somewhat. How about I bring you the Wolfsbane tomorrow evening? I'm sure Snape won't mind." Remus started to argue but she interjected, "and besides. I don't think that you can very well tell me that I can't bring it considering I made it. I could just not let you have it at all."

_She wouldn't!_

"You're right, I probably wouldn't. But really, just let me bring it to you. I'll leave as soon as I see that you've taken it. I'll do extra work and I'll clean your classroom and I'll…." The entire last line she said with mock desperation.

"MERLIN Hermione, stop acting like you'rebegging for extra credit points!" he shivered but smiled. "While you are my student, technically, I see you as my lover…? Girlfriend…? Significant other? Ya that sounds better, first and foremost. For your own sake don't mix the two."

_I will have absolutely no control if she starts begging and pleading like that when we're more…… engaged._

"Yes sir." She giggled and he realized she had heard what he had just thought. His eyes grew wide.

_Maybe this mind reading thing has its downsides. _

_Oh contraire Mr. Moony sir, I find it to be very…. Enlightening._

"Now I think we have some catching up to do." She said as she slid her arms around her neck and tilted her head back to gaze into his eyes.

"You don't have to tell me twice." He breathed before he captured her mouth with his own.

XXXXXXXXXXX

While Remus didn't have a class the following period, Hermione did. So, 15 minutes later Hermione emerged from his classroom with an excuse note in her hand. As she walked with authority down the hall, a very disheveled Remus stood in his doorway and watched her go. When she rounded a corner, he shook his head and smiled as he rebuttoned his shirt that was only have way buttoned. He ran a hand through his hair that was now sticking up in very unruly turfs as he turned and went back into his classroom and sat down at his desk.

XXXXXXXXXX

Lunch rolled around and Hermione was seated beside Ginny while Harry and Ron sat across from them. Since her time with Remus, she was more relaxed and happy.

"What're you grinning about Hermione?" Ginny asked slyly. Hermione had told her about her and Remus' relationship a few days after the Halloween ball.

"Well, I…" she blushed. Just then an owl swooped down to the table in front of them and had a letter attached to its leg. On the front of the envelope were the letters HRHG.

"What's that mean?" A very confused Ron asked.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's obviously our initials. And look, it has Dumbledore's seal on the back." She untied the letter from the owl's leg and opened it.

_HRHG,_

_Over the break you will not be returning to your homes. You will spend all of the break at the place as will everyone else. _

_-P.D_

They all looked at each other as Hermione finished reading. "I wonder why we're all having to go to…" Ginny began. Harry cleared his throat. "…. To go there and stuff." She caught what she had been about to say.

"I'm not sure," Harry said. "I was going there anyway, but I'm glad that you all are too."

They all nodded their heads and went back to normal conversation and continued eating.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the day flew by. The bulk of the next one did as well. After DADA class, Hermione reminded Remus that she would be at his rooms at 5. He nodded and she smiled and all but skipped out of the room. Remus sighed and sat on the edge of his desk. He rubbed his hand over his tired face and tried to concentrate.

_Why did you ever agree to let her come tonight? You love her you twit, why would you want her to see you at your absolute worst? _He shoved a book out of his way and lay back on the desk.

_What if she runs away? What if she decides she doesn't want to be with a werewolf? _He jumped off of the desk and paced the room with a panic stricken face.

I couldn't handle that. I couldn't stand not having her. I care more about her than I do anyone else in this bloody world.

He sighed and walked to pick up the book from the floor. With a smile, he thumbed through it and recalled the first time that Lilly had witnessed him on a full moon night. She had screamed and thrown a book, about the same size as the one he was holding, at him. Sirius had to go calm him down while James consoled Lilly and assured her that Remus was indeed still Remus. After that encounter Lilly grew more open to the idea and eventually became as comfortable around him during full moons as Padfoot and Prongs were. Wormtail was always apprehensive though; he never seemed to fully adjust.

Remus sighed. Some people were ok with it, and others weren't. I just pray that Hermione is one of the few who are.

XXXXXXXXX

The day continued and before he knew it, Hermione was knocking on his bedroom door. Remus was already broken out into a cold sweat and was shaking, even though the sun had yet to set. He managed to mumble, "come in," and Hermione came in slowly with the vile of Wolfsbane in her right hand and a cool wet cloth in the other. Held in the crook of her arm was a tall glass of water. She walked over to the bed and sat the items on the bedside table very efficiently. Her face was not full of fear, he noted, but it was pale and drawn. She immediately uncorked the vile and put it to Remus' lips. He tilted his head back slowly and allowed her to give him the tonic. Once she was sure he had taken it all, she laid the vile aside and took his hand as she picked up the wet cloth and wiped his brow.

"Hermione, you don't have to," he was interrupted.

"Shh… shh…. Don't speak. Remember, if you think it I can hear it just as well."

He rejoiced that he wouldn't have to literally talk, it was far too difficult given his current condition.

Come up here with me.

She looked startled. But I thought you wanted me to leave as soon as I brought this.

I did; I do. But the sun won't set for another 45 minutes, I think we could allow you to stay for perhaps 10 minutes. Please.

Her eyes softened. Even mentally, his 'please' had been a very weak sounding one, though not lacking in meaning. So Hermione crawled up on the bed and lay against his chest.

Close your eyes.

Remus was too tired to do anything but what he was told. So he closed his eyes.

Hermione gently wiped the cool wet towel across his closed eyelids. She could tell he was feverish and knew it was one of the least worrisome side affects. But she wanted to do anything in her power to make him more comfortable.

She kissed him lightly on the lips and started to lay full length on top of him.

'Mione you don't want to do that. During full moon days I'm more in tune with all of my natural senses if you know what I mean.

Oh sorry. She blushed and instead settled for laying beside him. She pulled his head to her chest as if she were comforting a small child. She stroked his soaking wet hair and put her other hand over his heart.

You're pulse is flying!

I think yours would be too if your body were about to be stretched and such.

She laughed lowly. Remus, I am always here for you. Always. Don't ever worry about me not being here, and don't feel as if you have to protect me from yourself.

Remus then remembered his doubts from earlier in the day. You heard me.

Yes, though I can't say I am surprised. Look at me. He again complied and looked up into her eyes. They were full of honesty and passion. I love you and nothing can or will ever change that. So, trust me.

He sighed. There was no point in arguing with her when he knew she was telling the truth. Instead he took the hand of hers that was lying on his chest and brought it to his lips. He turned her hand over and kissed her palm, and then laced his fingers with hers.

Thank you Hermione. You have no idea what that means to me. I love you too. Just then his body jerked sharply and then settled.

I think it's about time for you to leave.

Right. I brought you water right there. Did the potion taste right?

Yes, it was as terrible as it ever is.

She smiled weakly. Ok. I'll go then. I will be in here first thing in the morning. She quickly kissed his lips and crawled over him to get off of the bed. Their hands were still linked as she walked. When she got out of his reach, she blew him another kiss and he pretended to catch it. She then turned and walked out the door, closing it tight behind her.

As she walked through his living room, she thought of one more thing. When she exited the entrance door, she put a silencing charm on it. She then headed towards Gryffindor tower.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Throughout the night, Hermione was anxious. She slept fitfully as she worried over Remus. She was up with the sunrise, and she hurriedly dressed and headed for his rooms.

She muttered his password and gained access to the livingroom. She went to his bedroom door and gently pushed it open.

She saw Remus sprawled across the bed in a most uncomfortable looking position on his stomach. He also had nothing on. She blushed but couldn't help but appraise him. Wow, cute butt. She took another moment to look him over before feeling guilty. Alright, it was just payback for him checking me out the other day. And with that she felt better. She went to his bathroom and returned with a towel. It was large, so she draped it across his waist as if it were wrapped around him and it nearly reached his knees. He was still sleeping, so she left to venture down to the kitchen to find herself some breakfast.

When she got inside the kitchen, the house elves were immediately at her side. They all loved her because of her work to free them, and they loved to do whatever they could for her.

She asked for some bacon, scrambled eggs, biscuits, and coffee for herself. Once she finished, she asked for another plate of the same thing to take back up to Remus. She also requested a pot of coffee. She asked the houseelves to bring it up to Remus' kitchenette in 10 minutes.

Feeling thoroughly better, Hermione walked back upstairs. The castle was so quiet that it seemed deserted. So quiet, in fact, that she was surprised to hear other footsteps coming in her direction down the hall. About a minute later, she saw the owner of the feet that were making such a racket; Draco.

"Morning Draco," she said carelessly, "you're up early."

"Yes," he said with a sneer, " working it all night really builds up an appetite, wouldn't you agree, Granger?"

She glared at him. "What do you mean?"

"Well, everyone knows that you and Weasly are still shagging."

"WHAT? We most certainly are not and to be honest we never did!"

"Yah, mmm-hmm. That's not what he says at Quiditch matches. In fact, he says you're quite the little firecracker."

Hermione's jaw had long since been hanging. "Get out of my way, Malfoy."

"Hey, hey, hey," he said innocently, "I'm just repeating what I heard. No reason to get all touchy about it. If I were you though, I would really let him have it if you're telling the truth."

She looked him square in the eye and thought she saw a bit of compassion there. He was still Draco Malfoy, but he didn't treat her as terribly as he once had. She didn't have long to think on it however, because he continued on. "Just do me a favor. If he gets piping mad, tell him Potter told you. Oh I can see the look on Potter's face now as Ron takes him by surprise and pummels him…." He says will a far off look.

"Draco, don't be a prat." She sighed.

He rolled his eyes. "Alright fine then, don't tell him that. Just let me know how it goes." He then began continuing towards his destination.

"…Draco?"

He turned around. "yeah?"

"If you are telling the truth, thanks. But if you're lying, I will be forced to hex you."

He actually laughed. "Just try me, Granger." He said and it almost sounded like there was a little affection in the use of her last name rather than hate.

With a nod, Hermione turned and proceeded to make her way to Remus' rooms. Now that was weird. And I'm sure Ron never said that, he wouldn't, would he?

XXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione once again entered Remus' rooms. The food had obviously just been delivered, because it was still steaming on the counter. She crept to Remus' bedroom and entered as quietly as she could. All thoughts of Ron were pushed from her mind. She stumped her toe though and let out a whimper, which caused Remus to stir.

Ooops.

Then Remus lifted his head ever so slightly and opened an eye. He saw it was Hermione and he let his head fall back to the bed.

Hi.

"Well hello there yourself Remus. I told you I would be here and here I am. There's breakfast in the kitchen. Are you hungry?"

Yes I'm famished but I can't move yet. It'll take me a few minutes to sit up, it always does afterwards.

She nodded but then remembered his eyes were closed so he couldn't see her nod. "Alright." She sat in a chair and waited patiently. He began to stir slowly. He began to push himself up of the bed and stopped; he realized he was only covered by a towel that was draped across him. He looked at Hermione.

"Blood hell. Did you…?"

Hermione smiled "Yes I did. I 'couldn't exactly help myself from looking at you.' Think of it as payback for the time you watched me prance around my rooms half naked after my shower."

He laughed a deep, throaty laugh. "Alright, alright. If you'll go fix me a cup of coffee and get my plate, I should be decent by the time you get back."

So Hermione scurried out of the room, and Remus wrapped the towel completely around his waist. He stepped out of bed and grabbed his robe from its previous resting spot, the floor. He put it on and tied it closed.

Hermione returned shortly after with his food and coffee. He scarfed the food down and gulped the coffee. He still looked extremely haggard, but he was already much improved from 30 minutes prior. When he finished, he sat the plate and cup aside. They were again both sitting on his bed; him reclined against the pillows and her sitting Indian-style to his side. He pulled her tightly to him. It was only 6, and first classed weren't for a long while. Remus had a sub lined up anyway. Hermione intended to stay up and only lay there for a few minutes. But with her head nestled into Remus' shoulder, his other arm laid possessively across her waist, and his warm breath on her neck, she fell asleep. Remus soon followed suit. They were both exhausted, and they ended up sleeping until noon.

They were awaken by a loud knocking on the door. Hermione started to get up to answer it but Remus made her sit down. "It wouldn't exactly do for you to open my door not knowing who's out there now would it?" Remus slowly made his way to the door and let an exasperated Harry enter.

"Have you….. seen Hermione?" He gasped. Remus paused and looked over his shoulder. He said it was Harry.

"I'm right here Harry," she said as she came to the door.

He looked relieved. "Good……. When you weren't in your rooms we thought you might be. We told the teachers you were sick and wouldn't be in classed today. They of course believed it, I mean it is YOU. Only when we were walking to lunch, Malfoy said something like 'have you talked to Granger lately? You should; the longer you wait the worse off she'll be.' That worried us to death and we got to thinking something might actually be wrong. So I ran all the way up here to see…. If you…. Were here."

"Oh... I'm sorry! We were still in bed. And Malfoy was talking about something else, something I do not feel like discussing at present. Not that I'm trying to keep it from either of you, but we can talk about it later. So yes Harry I'm fine."

"Good." He seemed to feel awkward. After all, Hermione has just said they were 'still in bed' and Remus was only wearing a robe and Hermione did look a little unkept herself. So Harry smiled weakly; he didn't like the thought of Hermione with anyone else but him. But Remus made her happy, so he just had to deal with it. "Well I'll be off now. Umm 'Mione, are you coming to the rest of our classes or are you going to 'be sick' all day?"

"Well, since half of the teachers already think I am sick, it would be weird for me to show up the second half of the day and well, not be sick. So I think……" she paused. "I think I'm actually going to play hookie today." Harry looked surprised, as did Remus. Hermione was actually surprised herself.

First time for everything.

Are you sure you want to skip the rest of the day?

Yes, Remmi, I'm sure.

Again, Harry felt awkward. While Remus and Hermione had been having a conversation in their head, it had seemed dead silent to Harry and Remus and Hermione were looking into each others' eyes.

"Ok, I will see you later then. And… next time, can you give me some warning before you disappear for an extended amount of time?"

Hermione laughed. "Yes Harry. Thanks for covering for me!" He smiled in return, and he walked down the hall. Hermione and Remus closed the door and headed back for the bedroom. They really were still tired, despite the coffee and the hours of sleep they had had already. So what better time to catch up on sleep and togetherness then the present?

**A/N: ok this kind of wrote itself. Let me know what u think!**


	12. Is it time?

Disclaimer: I do not own HP or any of these characters. Only the plot is mine, but even it was inspired but the wonderful lady JKR.

Christmas break came before they knew it. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny met in the Gryffindor common room with their trunks. They were excited about getting to spend Christmas break together at 12 Grimmauld Place. As they walked down the hall, Ginny slowed her pace and took Hermione by the arm to make her slow down too.

"Hey," she whispered, "have you talked to Harry yet?"

"No," Hermione said apologetically, "I really haven't had time to yet. But don't worry, I'll do it while we're at Sirius's."

Ginny squeezed her hand. "Thanks." Then she laughed and pointed at Harry and Ron up ahead of them. "Look at them, fighting like an old married couple."

They were in fact fighting like an old married couple; and about Quiditch no less. Hermione and Ginny hurried along to catch up with the boys and put themselves between them to stop their arguing before it got out of hand. Hermione had yet to talk to Ron about the rumors, but she was planning on doing so over break as well. She didn't really believe that he was saying it though, because if she did, she would have already turned him into a table and left him to rot in an attic somewhere.

When they got to the entrance hall, Hermione searched the room for Remus. She spotted him chatting with Professor Sprout just beside the door. She sighed and smiled.

_Oh…. REMUS!… _She screamed in her thoughts as if he were pleasing her in the most intimate ways possible.

He looked up, as he slightly doubled over. He scanned the room for Hermione and spotted her standing in front of the stairs, grinning madly at him. He grinned back slyly at her.

_Don't DO that to me when I'm standing here with Sprout! People might get the wrong ideas._

She laughed out loud at that, and he could hear her tinkling laughter all the way across the room. He continued, _You all wait on me outside the door, I'll be there in two seconds._

She nodded. As the four students walked out of the door, she whispered to Ginny, and then Ginny laughed and looked over at Remus. Remus rolled his eyes and could only assume they were discussing the previous occurrences. He sighed and bid farewell to Sprout, gathered his belongings, and headed out the door to meet the posse.

He opened the door and started to say something, only to get hit square in the face with a snowball. He spit and spat the snow out of his mouth before wiping his eyes to see his attacker. He assumed it would be Hermione, but then he looked up and saw that it was Harry standing in front of him.

"Why you," he threatened playfully. Just then he was pummeled with two more snowballs, this time one from each side of him. He turned quickly to both sides and saw a Weasly to his left and to his right. He took a step back, only to bump into someone.

"RUN!" Hermione yelled as she jumped on his back piggyback style. He did as he was told, and with Hermione on his back he ran across Hogwarts grounds towards the gates while being pursued by her three amigos. Even with the extra weight, he had the speed and agility one would expect from a werewolf.

When they reached the gates and got outside of them, he stopped and called truce. Harry, Ron, and Ginny came through the gates laughing. All five of them were then laughing with rosy cheeks, watering eyes, and runny noses. When they got control of their giggles, Ginny spoke.

"Alright, alright, let's go now shall we?"

"Wait!" Harry said. "What about all of our luggage? We left it back up there."

"I already took care of that," a now calm and rational Hermione said. "They are going to be transported with Professor Dumbledore's things."

They all sighed. How Hermione-like it was to think ahead.

"Oh…Professor Lupin?" Hermione then asked in her most innocent voice.

Remus bit his lower lip, hard.

_You're doing it again!_

Her eyes danced as she continued. "I do believe you are going to have to teach me to apparate sometime, seeing as I still haven't gotten my license. As it is, you don't mind carrying me along for a ride, do you?"

You do realize that the words you choose and the way you say them can be twisted in many ways to mean other things, don't you?

_Yes sir I do._

He turned abruptly and walked a few paces from the gates. Hermione knew what was up, but none of the others did. So she played along.

"Why Remus, where are you going?"

"I think we should be on our way now. The rest of you can apparate right?" They all nodded. "Good. Hermione, come with me. And we'll meet the rest of you in a few minutes!"

With quick partings, they started to pop away and vanish, leaving Remus and Hermione standing alone.

When he was sure there was nobody else around he picked her up and lifted her in the air, then slowly brought her back down and met her lips with a firm kiss.

"Listen little lady," he began, "you can't start things and not intend to finish them" he joked.

"And what makes you think I don't intend to finish them?" she suggested, "Who knows, we do have two whole weeks, together…. I might have something in mind."

"Oh do you now? Well, I guess I will have to wait and be surprised; it's not like I can read your mind or anything." They laughed. " Just do me a favor. When we're around, oh I don't know, the other Order adults, try to refrain from those thoughts of yours, we wouldn't want to offend anyone now would we?"

Oh of course not… nobody needs know any more about US then they already do. I'll try to be a good girl.

"Ahemmhmmhmm" Remus laughed lowly. He pulled her close to him and she leaned up for a kiss. They then sank to their knees on the ground because they both were doubting their ability to stand. Then ended up laying on the snow covered ground, rolling and laughing and kissing like mad. Nearly 30 minutes had passed before they remembered that they were supposed to be at Headquarters by then.

They hurriedly apparated, and appeared on the steps of Sirius's house. Remus muttered the password and spoke several incantations to unlock the door. When it opened, they stepped inside, only to run into Tonks on her way out.

"Oh, hiya there Remus, Hermione." She said as she nodded at each of them. "Supper's in the kitchen, but you might wanna go get dried off first, you're both soaked and sopping up the floor!" She seemed to be fine being in their company. It had been quite a while since she learned of their relationship, so perhaps she really was over Remus.

They thanked her, and headed upstairs to find their rooms. Since the entire Order and the four students were to be staying there, they were a little shy on rooms. Remus found his belongings in his usual room, and Hermione found hers in the room her and Ginny always stayed in. She plopped down on her bed after she was dry and she noticed Ginny's familiar trunk sitting beside the bed beside hers. Then she noticed that there was another bed in the room, and it was set up directly across from her own. She stood and walked over to examine it. The trunk was of mahogany wood, and etched on the top was a big bubblegum pink T.

Tonks.

What about Tonks? Remus thought in reply. He then entered the room and saw Hermione standing over the trunk.

"I think she's staying in here with me an Ginny," she began. "Remmi, that's going to be so awkward!"

He kissed her forehead. "Don't worry. Hey, you can always stay with me in my room, it is awfully lonely in there." He joked.

"I might actually take you up on that," she sighed as they walked out of the room and down the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They entered the kitchen to find everyone else already eating. They split momentarily to speak to their friends, but once they got their food, they sat together in the two remaining seats that seemed to have been saved for them; at Sirius' right side. He sat at one end of the long table and Dumbledore sat at the other.

The entire meal was insane. It carried on well enough, but the fact that there were so many people talking at once and about as many random things as they were was enough to confuse Einstein. Hermione took in where everyone was sitting. Just as Remus was sitting at Sirius' right hand side, Harry was at Sirius's left hand side. Ginny was then seated beside him, and then Ron on the other side of Ginny. She then looked down the table and was happy to see that Snape had sat himself down next to Tonks and they were carrying on in conversation very well; well considering that it WAS Snape.

Hermione was then yanked out of her observations as Sirius directed his attention towards her. "So, Hermione, what kind of spell have you put on this old furball here?" he laughed as he poked Remus with his fork. "I've never seen him like this before!"

Hermione and Remus looked at each other and laughed and Hermione placed a hand on his arm. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

"Oh definitely a good thing."

"Hey now!" Remus said but he wasn't in the least bit offended. It was true; Hermione made him happier then he'd ever been in his life.

Hermione of course heard him think that, and she smiled and wrapped her leg around his under the table.

Damn, you read my thoughts again.

Yes I did, but it's a good thing. Ok Your turn; read mine.

He did, and he opened his eyes very wide in shock at the thoughts that ran through her mind.

Tsk, tsk, you're a naughty girl Hermione. Are you sure?

Very, Very Very sure Remus. I want to. Teach me, tonight.

…...You're doing it again.

I know. She smiled. Thankfully nobody was watching their expressions through their mental conversations, or else they would have seen eyes full of lust, passion, and desire. Still playing footsy under the table, Hermione got her foot just inside of the bottom of his pants leg.

Remus dropped his fork onto his plate.

"Wooaah Moony," Sirius paused his in depth conversation with Harry, Ron, and Ginny. "Are we trying to break my china?"

Everyone at their end of the table laughed, except for Ron.

"What's wrong Ron?" Ginny asked her brother.

"Nothing."

"Yes there is." Sirius said matter-of-factly. "It's a girl issue."

Ron looked at him funnily but didn't deny it.

"Oooh Ron who is it?" Ginny set in.

"Ya, spill!" Hermione added.

Harry didn't say a thing, because he already knew what was going on with Ron.

"Fine!" Ron whispered. "I…er… that is to say, I've been dating Cho. You said china, and well… I call her my little china doll….." he blushed at admitting that. "And I'm stuck here,(no offense,) and I won't get to see her until after the break!"

"Aww…" they all said. He just blushed more and told them to keep quiet. "Don't let mum and dad know though, they'll hassle me about her all the time if they knew."

They all agreed to keep it quiet.

The meal ended soon afterwards, and everybody split up. People were in every room of the house, and it was almost like a party. A party that would last for two solid weeks.

"I wonder why Dumbledore wanted us all here," Hermione asked Remus as they walked towards the den.

"I'm not sure, but Sirius mentioned something about Albus having something to tell us all and that he thought it was very important."

The prophesy!

I think so too.

About an hour later, Hermione remembered something. "Hey, I have to talk to Harry," she told Remus. I'll find you later.

"Alright love." And with that, Hermione set out to find her friend. She found him watching a game of wizard's chess that Sirius and Ron were busy playing.

"Hey Harry, can I talk to you for a sec.?" She asked him.

"Sure, 'Mione, hey guys I'll be right back."

"Don't take too long," Sirius called out. "I've almost got this squirt creamed. Then I get to beat you too!"

"Yeah right, Sirius. Don't listen to him Harry, I'm winning!"

Harry laughed as he left the room with Hermione. Since people were everywhere in the house, they went outside. She contemplated taking him up on the roof to her hiding place, but couldn't bring herself to do it.

"So what do you need to talk to me about, Hermione?" Harry asked her as they sat on the front steps.

"I… er.. ok." She didn't know how to start the conversation; so she decided to take Ginny's approach. "What do you do if you like a friend?"

"Well, I think you're kinda supposed to like.."

She interrupted him. "Noo, I mean, what are you supposed to do if you LiKe a friend? Someone you've been friends with for years. Someone who's been through some tough times with you and some good times. Someone who you used to see almost as a brother?" She paused because she felt she was rambling.

Harry was silent. Then he looked into her eyes. "Hermione. I know exactly what you mean. And don't worry, I won't tell Remus." And with that he leaned in to kiss her. As soon as his lips touched hers, Hermione jerked away.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" she asked in shock.

"But, I thought you said that,"

"OH……" she paused. "You thought I was talking about me. I was talking about Ginny, and you."

"Ginny?"

"Yes. She wanted me to ask you about her and you. Oh Harry I'm sorry, I should have been more specific."

"No," he said spitefully, "I'm sorry. Sorry that I thought you wanted me the way I want you."

It took a couple seconds for the meaning of Harry's words to sink in. By that time he had stood up and was about to go back inside. "Harry, wait."

He turned around wearily. "What?"

She stepped over to him. "You don't like me, really. Look, I have an idea." She paused and put her hands around his neck. She slowly, but surely, kissed him fully on the lips. When she backed away, she looked him in the eyes. "Now, did that do anything for you, or did it feel like you were kissing your sister?"

"Err.." he said sheepishly, "the latter."

"Exactly. Now, I want you to go inside, find Ginny, and kiss her. See how you and her react to that, then let me know." She paused. "Harry, I DO love you, as a friend and as a brother. And I think you'll now realize that you only love me in those ways too….. well ok you'd love me as a sister not a brother, but you get my meaning."

They laughed. "Thanks, 'Mione. I mean really." He hugged her tightly, but the tension had completely left the air. They headed back inside and went their separate ways; Hermione to find her Moony and Harry to find his Ginny.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione found Remus sitting in Ron's place at the chessboard with Sirius.

"Ah, you sneaky little bastard, take that!" he cried as he wiped out Sirius' queen.

Sirius just stared at the board, mouth agape. "Why the bloody hell did you do that?"

"To remind you that I was and always will be the chess champion of the universe; deal with it."

Sirius just shook his head and began scrutinizing the board, trying to form a new strategy.

Hermione walked up behind Remus and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He tensed, but upon realizing who it was, he relaxed and leaned into her arm.

Hello love.

Hi.

Where did you disappear to?

Oh, the usual. Took a walk, kissed Harry, walked some more…..

"You WhAt?" he said aloud. Sirius looked at him as if he should be in the insane asylum of St. Mungo's.

Remus just shook his head and continued playing and think-talking with Hermione.

It was only to convince him that he doesn't like me and that it would be like kissing his sister…. Which he agreed it was. I went out there to talk to him about him and Ginny, but he thought I meant him and ME. So I had to clear things up for him.

Yes, I suppose that is alright. Just don't make a habit of kissing your friends; I want to kiss YOU, not all of them.

"AhHA!" Sirius cried triumphantly. "I beat you!"

You don't have to worry about that…… So, about tonight?

If you are completely sure.

Remmi, I'm ready.

"Helloooo?" Sirius waved his arm in front of Remus' face.

Do you trust me?

More then I even trust myself.

Right, no pressure there.

"Remus Lupin wake up from whatever daydream you are in. Look, I beat you!" he boasted.

Remus stared at the board. "Yes you did. And I declare a rematch, tomorrow."

"You got it Moony."

"Well, I will be seeing you tomorrow then; very tired you know, long day." He took Hermione's hand and stood as if to leave.

"Right……." Sirius said as he winked at Remus. "Have fun."

Just then, the doors to the study flew open, and then quickly shut. The room was only lit by candlelight, so the three of them strained to see who or what was there.

"Merlin," Hermione breathed.

A/N: Hehe, sorry for the little cliffy. Next chap. Up soon.


	13. A new trio

Disclaimer: No I do not own these characters or the house, none of it. The only thing I claim is my plot, so don't steal it!

Albus and Minerva shut the door tight behind themselves upon entering the room. Hermione, Remus, and Sirius were partially hidden the shadows, so they were not noticed.

"Albus," Minerva pleaded, "why can't we tell her? She deserves to know what she's up against!"

"Do you not think I have pondered that very question for months now? But the prophecy clearly says that she must decipher the Tear's uses and powers on her own. The only possible person who can be of any real assistance is Remus, since he's in the prophecy too."

"I don't know." She said anxiously and she twisted her hands. "She is awfully young to have such a burden placed on her shoulders. Everything we've all worked for and the fate of the wizzarding world as we know it is up to her… and Harry of course." she paused. "We've always known that Harry is the one who must defeat You-Know-Who, he won't even get the chance too unless she pulls this off!"

"We are talking about the same young witch, are we not?" Dumbledore paused while she nodded. "The brightest and most promising student we have had in many a year? If anyone can do this, she can."

Minerva sighed. "I just don't want anything to happen to her. You do know the risks involved as well as I do, and…."

"And if everything goes as it is supposed to, nothing will happen to her. There quite possibly could be even more positive outcomes then we are even anticipating."

"When are we going to reveal Servus' memory of the prophecy to everyone?"

"I believe we will do that in a few days; let everyone get settled in and comfortable."

"And, pray tell, why did you require everyone to stay here for the entire 2 weeks? You've yet to explain your reasoning there."

"Because, Severus informed me of an attack on Hogsmeade plotted for sometime over the break. I have notified the authorities and strongly suggested that it be completely shut down until the New Year, but the storeowners wouldn't hear of it. Voldemort supposedly has certain people targeted, and we do not know whom specifically. So, the easiest thing to do would be to keep all of us, away from Hogsmeade."

Minerva nodded her head in understanding. "Alright. I suppose we should go back out to the crowd,"

Dumbledore agreed.

Then he shocked the bystanders; he reached out and hugged Minerva tightly and kissed her forehead.

"This WILL work, I promise you."

And with that, they left the room, leaving three very shocked snoops standing in silence for a full 5 minutes. Sirius was the first to find his tongue.

"Blood hell, did you see that?" he exclaimed. "Albus, and Minerva? Eeeew!" he cringed.

Hermione was also shocked by that little display of affection, but she was more concerned with the tidbits of information concerning her task at hand. Remus heard all of the thoughts that were running through her head and placed an arm around her shoulder.

_We'll figure this out. And I'm here for you every step of the way._

_I know; and thanks._

Meanwhile, Sirius was still ranting and raving about what he had just seen. "I mean, they're ancient; much too old to have relationships, right?"

"Haha," Remus laughed. "Do try to understand my friend. Love really has no limits." He winked at Hermione as she rolled her eyes but smiled at how corny that sounded.

"Phshh." He said doubtfully. "Well it may not have limits, but surely there are at least some guidelines…."

Hermione laughed at him. "Well, I do believe I am going to steal Moony for the rest of the night. Do try to behave yourself, and DON'T let on that we know anything that happened in here…. AT ALL."

"Right." He nodded, but his facial expression seemed as if he had just seen Medusa dressed like a fairy. His senses came back to him momentarily. "Moony, there's all kinds of stuff in the cabinets in your room that you're more then welcome to.."

"Thank you Sirius," Remus cut him off. "I will be seeing you in the morning." And with that, Hermione and Remus left Sirius to his own devices and they headed out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Remus and Hermione made a plan together in their heads. They would mosey around with everyone else and act normal. Then, Hermione would act like she was really tired and go up to her room, telling her friends and maybe a couple of the adults not to come looking for her because she was going to sleep. Then she would find Remus (who would be with other people,) and tell him the same thing, kiss him and then say goodnight, to keep things looking normal. Then she would go upstairs and into her room to wait. After 20 minutes, Remus would decide he was tired too, and head upstairs. They would meet in him room 10 minutes after that.

They set the plan into action. Surprisingly, they ran into no problems whatsoever. As soon as Remus started walking up the steps, Hermione was closing the door to his bedroom behind her. She was nervous; but that was to be expected. Remus opened the door slowly, and then locked it behind him and propped on it.

"Hermione," he said as he looked at her with a smirk on his face.

"Yes?" she said as she fidgeted with the ends of her hair. After what seemed like eternity, she looked him square in the eye for a second, before her gaze faltered again. Her heart was racing and she felt the blush on her cheeks.

_I love him. I want to do this. But I don't know ho…._

_My love, _Remus thought as he quickly walked over to her and lifted her chin so that she had to look him in the eyes, _don't worry about a thing. _

She smiled at him, and in reply, Remus kissed her gently. "Now then," he said, "lets see what Sirius has in these cabinets." He had already thoroughly searched the room and knew exactly what was where. He opened one drawer and pulled out a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white wine. Next were two glasses. He sat them on the nearby table as he motioned for Hermione to have a seat. He poured her glass full of the white first, then his own likewise. After a toast to being together, they fell into easy conversation.

Once they had devoured the white wine, they moved on to the red. Hermione liked the white wine better, but by that time, she couldn't have cared less what she was drinking. By the time they finished that one off, they were both feeling the burning affects of the massive quantities they had drunk.

"Now then lover," Hermione said as she struggled to stand. "I do believe we had some plans."

"Aye, that we did," Remus rumbled, but he couldn't help but smile at his young, drunken, adorable, virgin love. He approached her, and her already pink cheeks flushed even more. He caressed her face, tracing every fine detail with his firm hand. When she moved closer to him, he took that as a cue and captured her lips with his own.

With a few flicks of his wand, the lights were out, the room was sound-proofed, and they were 'protected'. They were at the bed in a matter of seconds.

Remus started to ask her again if she were sure, but stopped as she pulled him closer to her.

_I can read her thoughts, dammit, I know she wants this.._

_Took you long enough to figure that one out._

That was all it took.

With a growl and a giggle, Hermione and Remus began the first of their many long nights together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Hermione woke up the following morning, the first thing she felt was her throbbing head. She remembered the previous night completely, including the amount of wine she drank. The sunlight was shining in the window; she groaned and snuggled under the covers and closer to Remus to shield its unwelcome light. Once she was hidden in her little cover-cave, she could focus on other things; namely that her entire body was exhausted. She was sore and ached in places she never had before, and she felt weak as a kitten.

Remus then woke up; whether by his own terms or the fact that Hermione had stolen the majority of the covers was unknown. However, wake up he did. And when he noticed Hermione wriggling under the covers beside him, he laughed.

"Good morning, love."

"Goodahhhm morning," she said through a yawn as she flopped the covers off of her head.

Remus sat up slightly and leaned over her. He kissed each of her eyelids and then moved to her nose, and her mouth. When he sat back up, he gently pushed some stray curls that had fallen into Hermione's face behind her ear. She slowly opened her eyes, and took a mental note of how Remus looked at that particular moment. The sun was gleaming behind him, causing his golden hair to seem even more radiant. His chest was also peppered with blonde curls, and Hermione couldn't resist touching him. The muscles in his chest and arms were deeply chiseled and clearly defined, but she felt them tighten under her touch. She smiled. She absolutely loved the power she had over him; and the power he had over her.

"Baby, we need to get up," Remus said as he began kissing her neck.

Hermione sighed in approval of his attention, and that only brought about more.

They were beginning to approach the point of no return again, when someone knocked on the door. Hermione looked up startled, but Remus calmed her.

"The door's locked; don't worry." That seemed to work in calming her nerves for a moment.

Remus decided to pretend to still be asleep; after all it was 9 in the morning after the first night at Grimmauld.

_Shall we continue?_

Hermione looked a little surprised, but nodded her head in agreement. _Yes we shall. _And with that they resumed their fun.

They thought the person outside of the door had given up and left after 5 minutes. So they were very shocked to hear someone muttering outside the door. Suddenly, the door flew open after an exasperated "Aloharmora" was heard.

Hermione and Remus stared wide-eyed at the door, still in each other's arms.

"Remus, I," Arthur Weasly had been looking at his watch and upon looking up at the bed had automatically hushed. "Errm… I'm sorry to interrupt?…."

Hermione blushed deeply and looked away from Arthur, but Remus tightened his grip around her and looked Arthur squarely in the face. "Well you did interrupt something. But since the mood is obviously killed, there must be a reason that you came up here?"

Arthur's face held a mixture of shock, appellation, wonder. "Well…. Perhaps you two would like to…. Errm…."

"Yes Mr. Weasly, if you do not mind I would like to get dressed and leave. So, if you would kindly wait for Remus in the next room?" Hermione said in her calmest possible voice. However, it was still quivering slightly. Mr. Weasly had been like a second father to her ever since first year, and it was very awkward and embarrassing for him to walk in on her and her lover.

Arthur nodded and left the room, shutting the door tightly behind him.

"Oh Remus!" She said as soon as Arthur was gone. "What do we do now?"

Remus thought for a moment. "I'm not sure, but don't you worry. I will talk to him in a few minutes. You on the other hand better get dressed, get back to your room, get a shower and a change of clothes, and head on downstairs. I'll be there in a little while."

Not feeling up to arguing, Hermione agreed. She slowly climbed out of bed, taking the sheet with her as she searched for her clothes. Remus got up too and looked for clothes to throw on. Each glanced at the other during the process, and they laughed out loud at the thoughts running through the other's head.

When they were both dressed, Remus walked over to Hermione and hugged her tightly.

"Remus," Hermione began. "Last night was….. spectacular. I wasn't sure what…. Exactly…. To expect…" she fumbled through the last half of the sentence.

"Oh 'Mione, it was amazing. YOU were amazing." He paused to make sure she wasn't regretting anything. When he was content with her thoughts and knew that she didn't regret it, he continued. "I love you baby, but you really ought to be going and I ought to go talk to Arthur."

"I love you too. Hurry downstairs, ok?" She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. And with that, she opened the door and headed for her bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione opened the door to her room slowly. Tonks wasn't in the room, and Ginny's bed was empty as well. Sighing, Hermione went over to her trunk and rummaged around for clothes and shower supplies. When she found everything she needed, she stumbled to their bathroom door. Surprisingly though, the door opened right as she reached for the handle.

"Ginny!" Hermione said through her shock. "I didn't think you were in here, sorry."

"Hey Hermione. It's ok." She cast her glance to the floor. Hermione assumed Ginny wanted to know where she had been last night. Since Ginny was her best female friend, she decided to confide in her.

"Gin, come here." Hermione sat her stuff on the sink and led Ginny to the window-seat in their bedroom. She sighed, and Ginny looked worried. "So, Gin, about last night…."

"'Mione, I'm sorry! I feel so guilty!"

"Huh?"

"I should have told you so that you wouldn't worry about me. But I'm fine, see?"

"What are you talking about?" Hermione questioned. She was thoroughly puzzled.

"About me not being here last night." She paused as Hermione's face showed her confusion. "Oh no…. you didn't know I wasn't here, did you?"

"Um, no I didn't. But that's because I wasn't here either."

Ginny looked surprised. "You weren't? Then where were you, the library?"

"No… I was in… Remus' room…. The entire night…." She said slowly.

"Wow, how'd you not get bored? I mean I know he's your boyfriend but still. Unless….." Ginny paused to see Hermione's reaction to what she was suggesting. When Hermione looked her in the eyes and wrinkled her face up like 'you caught me' Ginny smiled broadly and squealed. "Ooohhh you mean?… Did you really? HERMIONE GRANGER I want details, NOW!"

Hermione laughed as she nodded her head." I'll fill you in later. But now I have to know, where were YoU last night?"

"Oh… right. Well, I camped outside…."

"Umm.. why?"

"Well…" she hesitated. "Last night a while after dinner, Harry just ran up to me in the living room. He grabbed me from behind, spun me around to face him, and kissed me, very hotly I might add. And, well…. We went outside, and ended up spending the entire night snogging like mad and only fell asleep after the sun rose."

"Ginny, that's so romantic!"

"It was, wasn't it? And when we woke up, we snuck inside easily because most people were still in bed."

"Did you… do any more then snog?"

"Slightly, but not as much as you and Remus obviously!" Ginny smiled knowingly at her older friend. "So, now you spill your disgustingly descriptive details."

"Ok, well we.." Hermione started but was interrupted by a knock the bedroom door opening. She widened her eyes in Ginny's direction, as if to say "drop it."

Tonks entered the room looking extremely tired, but thrilled. When she saw the girls, she paused and then regained her normal composure (or lack thereof.) "Good morning you sleepy heads!" she beamed at them. "You were both still in bed when I got up this morning. I tried to wake you up, even pulled your covers off! But you both just lay there in the deepest sleep I think I've ever seen!"

Ginny and Hermione looked at each other and smiled. They nodded and thne began pumping Tonks for information as well.

"Actually Tonks, I thought I saw you leaving the library early this morning." Ginny began. Tonks stopped fidgeting with her hair and turned to look at the girls with a very puzzled look on her face.

"Neither of us were in here last night either," Hermione laughed. Tonks still looked perplexed, so she let Hermione keep talking. "We were both…er….otherwise occupied. So that leaves us to ask, where were YOU?" Hermione was trying to be friendly towards the older woman, not wanting the whole Remus thing getting in the way of a possible friendship.

Tonks blushed furiously. "Whatcha mean you weren't in here? What could you possibly be doing all night girls? Why Hermione, Remus went up to his room kind of early, not long after you did. And…" she stopped as realization dawned on her. She looked as if she didn't believe what she was thinking, so she looked at Hermione for clarification. Hermione nodded, and Tonks sat down heavily on her bed. "Wow. I guess I didn't think the two of you were that serious. Oh well. If it hadn't been for you, Severus and I would have never…." She again stopped after she realized she had let her secret out.

"You and SNAPE?" Ginny shrieked, then she giggled. "Never saw that one coming."

Hermione, on the other hand, had been suspecting that something would happen between them. She smiled and took Tonks' hand. "I think it's sweet. So do you really like him?"

"Oh yes!" she said. "He's different alone then when he's around everyone…. Though he still has that whole brooding thing, which I find incredibly hot."

"Definitely. I do too." Hermione said casually. "That is, Remus sometimes has that deep brooding thing going on too and I love it." She stopped to think for a second. "Tonks, are you over Remus completely? I really think we could be good friends if I knew that you didn't umm… resent me for being with him."

"Aw 'Mione," she said as she got up and walked over to hug Hermione. "I forgave you both a long time ago! Yes I had a huge crush on the man, but hey, every girl has inevitably had crushes on someone they can't have before, right?" Both girls nodded. "Right. So there are absolutely no hard feelings between us, I promise." They smiled at each other and both felt relieved.

"So Ginny, where were you last night then?"

"I was with Harry." Upon seeing Tonks' assumption, she quickly added, "We didn't do more then snog though. But still it was great.!"

"I bet!" Tonks laughed. "Looks like you're the only one of the three of us who has the sense to date a man almost the same age." They all giggled.

"WELL, now that we've all had this little chat, I think we should make an appearance downstairs, don't you?" Hermione said matter-of-factly. They all agreed.

"Oh, and another thing." She said. "what we discussed here is not to leave the three of us, understand? The last thing we need is the entire house knowing about our love lives; well, Arthur did walk in on me and Remus this morning, but besides him…"

"EEEW dad walked in on you? That's terrible!"

"Yeah it really was. But Remmi was going to talk to him, so it should be fine. Now then, let's al go downstairs to get some breakfast. I know you two must be as famished as I am…. Well, at least almost as famished as me."

XXXXXXXXXX

The girls walked down the stairs in a line, with Hermione in the middle. She was used to being in groups of threes; her with her parents, her with Harry and Ron, and now her with Tonks and Ginny. Somehow she always ended up in the middle. They walked into the kitchen together, trying to act as normal as possible.

Many people were already sitting down. People seemed to have designated themselves seats, so everyone was at the same seat they were the night before. When Hermione sat down beside Remus, they began talking; well, thinking.

_So, did you talk to Arthur?_

_Yes…. Turns out all he had wanted to talk to me about was you. He seems to have a particular interest in us. But no matter. I made him swear to keep his mouth closed about what he saw (Even to Molly) or else he could face a million hexes from yours truly._

_Great. Now he's going to think we're terrible and dangerous._

_Nah. He really took it very well…. Surprisingly well._

Now everyone was talking together. Since Remus and Hermione was the only relationship that was known about by the general public of the house, it was amusing for Hermione to watch the other couples.

"Servus, would you please pass me the maple syrup?" Tonks said casually. He glanced up at her and his eyes twinkled at the slight smile on her lips. He passed her the syrup and let his hand linger on the bottle and she took it slowly.

It was all Hermione could do to keep from laughing outloud. She decided to try something.

"Remus, will you pass me the grape jelly?" she said and she watched for Tonks' reaction. Just as she thought, Tonks looked up and caught Hermione's eye, and they both smiled widely.

Ginny had watched all of this and decided not to be left out. "Harry, will you hand me the pepper please?"

Both of the other girls smiled at and with her as well.

"Ginny, it's closer to you then it is to me. But here you go." Harry said.

This caused all three girls to break out in violent laughter. Most of the table stared at them incredulously. When they noticed, they tried to calm themselves, but that only caused eye watering and pink cheeks.

"Bloody hell what is so funny?" Sirius said, though their laughter had infected him as well. They just shook their heads and tried to calm down; only succeeding after a couple minutes.

Remus though now knew full well why they were laughing, because he heard Hermione's thoughts. He chose not to mention them though; he wanted to wait and see if she came and told him.

When breakfast was over, everyone scattered and were left to amuse themselves. Ginny and Hermione decided to go hang out with Harry and Ron for a while, to keep up appearances. Hermione was glad to hang out with her friends, but Ginny was ecstatic since one of the "friends" was Harry.

Sirius on the other hand, had yanked Remus into the library.

"Really Padfoot," Remus began. "I will give you details if you insist, but must you be so forceful?"

"Moony that's not what this is about; though I wouldn't mind some details later. But this is much more serious. Last night after you two left, Minerva and Albus came back into the library to talk some more…" he was very concerned and decided a direct approach was the best way to tell him. "Remus, there's a very probable risk with the fulfillment of the prophesy that Hermione will die."

A/N: AHHH cliff hanger! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to put this up. And don't worry, in the next chapter you will find out all of the prophecy, at least that's what I'm planning on. OH YA, sorry I don't do detailed intimate scenes, you are left to imagine what you will. LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THIS CHAPTER, and story!


	14. Times of Solitude

"What the hell do you mean she'll die?" Remus asked incredulously as his eyes widened.

"Calm down and I'll tell you," Sirius began, "Albus and Minerva came back in here like I said. They seem to have decided to spill the prophesy today by the way…"

"Stop changing the subject and stalling you dundering bloat!" Remus thundered.

Sirius sighed and continued. "Well Minerva started crying and was saying something about 'Hermione's too young to die or to have to be cursed like this.' And then Albus hugged her again and said something along the lines of 'Be optimistic. Who knows, she could very well survive, and everything else for the future could work out for the better. But she doesn't have to go through with it; she has the option of refusing. When the truth is revealed tomorrow though, I believe Miss Granger will understand and do whatever she can for the cause. Without Hermione, there isn't even a chance that we will defeat Voldemort, we've been through this before. And though the chance is a slim one, it still exists. And that, my dear, should be enough to give us hope.' Then they left again."

Remus sank down in a chair and buried his face in his hands. Sirius squatted down beside his friend and patted him on the back comfortingly.

"I have to tell her," Remus mumbled.

"I know. And remember, you're involved somehow too, so you need to help each other."

Remus sat up stiffly, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. "Yes, I know. Thank you my friend. I've got to go find her now." And with that, Remus left the library.

XXXXXXXXXX

He found Hermione outside sitting on the ground with Harry and Ron. They were all talking and laughing, but when Hermione looked up and noticed Remus watching them from across the lawn, time seemed to freeze. They caught each others' gaze, and it seemed like a thousand tiny volts of electricity were racing between their hearts. But the rush was interrupted as Remus' heart voiced another emotion: fear. Hermione picked up on it as he walked towards them.

_What's up Remmi? _She thought with eyes full of questions.

_Just… in a few minutes love. _And with that, he pushed all negative thoughts from his mind temporarily; he didn't want her to learn the truth from his thoughts.

"Hello everyone." Remus said cheerfully enough. "What are we doing out here?"

The boys chuckled. "We're drawing people in the snow, then thinking of hexes or curses we've always wanted to use on them, and then doing them to the drawings! And the more serious and dangerous ones we're just having to draw….." Harry explained. "It's really more fun then you'd think."

"I imagine so," Remus agreed. "Well I believe I'm going to snatch Hermione from you for a little while; that is, if the lady agrees."

"Of course Remus. Hey guys I'll come find you later, ok?" They nodded, so the couple walked hand in hand all the way back to the house. Not a word was spoen and not a thought flowed freely as they made their way up the stairs, onto the roof, and down to their little 'spot' above the bay window. Remus sat down, and leaned against the wall, so Hermione followed suit. After a couple minutes, Hermione cleared her throat.

"I noticed something this morning in the shower," she began. "My necklace. It isn't glowing white anymore; it's red/ Do you think it has anything to do with…last night?" she asked as she lay her head on his shoulder.

"It very well may."He started. _It's now or never._ "'Mione, this…necklace..the prophecy, all of it. I think it's even more serious than we thought."

"Oh, I know. What we heard in the library and all. And that I have to help or Harry won't be able to beat Lord Voldemort!" Remus interrupted her and turned her face so that they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Mione, Sirius heard more after we left…You could potentially die in this."

"Well Remmi, we can all potentially die in the Final Battle, and…"

"No Hermine. This is different. There is a high risk of it happening to you due according to the prophecy and whatever you're having to do." And with that, he related to her what Sirius had told him.

"I had to tell you…Baby, you don't have to do this…I can't lose you." Remus whispered with a voice full of emotion.

"Hermione just sat in silent contemplation. But she wasn't trying to block her thoughts, so Remus heard everything. She was terribly confused, so he didn't press her. He just pulled her close and kissed away the crystal droplets that were beginning to glide silently down her cheeks. She finally regained her composure and spoke.

"Whatever it is, I'll do it. I have to." She said with determination.

"And I will be right there with you the entire way." Remus replied as he continued to hold her. "We are going to do everything we can to figure this out and plan for the future." She nodded in agreement.

"Remus…Hermione?" they heard Ron's familiar voice calling to them from somewhere nearby. "Well wherever you are, Dumbledore wants us all to go to the library for a meeting. Hurry up!"

They heard his footsteps retreating, and when they heard him go back inside, they climbed up from their haven. "Alright love, let's go see what our dear Snape has decided to remember."

XXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was going to the library, so Hermione and Remus followed the stream of people. They sat on a couch at the very front of the room; directly in front of the space that Dumbledore would be standing when he read the prophecy.

The room was filled with a low but constant rambling of random conversations. But soon, Dumbledore entered the room with Prof. McGonagall and Snape close on his heels, and the room grew quiet. Hermione tightened her grip on Remus' hand. Dumbledore stood exactly where they thought he would, and Minerva and Severus stood on either side of him.

He began. "Members of the Order, both young and old. Today we are going to reveal the remnants of the prophecy as have been collected from our own Severus Snape's subconscious memory. I will begin by saying that what we have been able to get ahold of is not a pretty picture; the very outcome of everything we have been fighting for depends upon our own dear Hermione deciphering this mystery and doing whatever must be done. If she is not successful, then Harry shall not be able to defeat Voldemort in the end." He paused to look at the two teens he had just mentioned. In Harry's face he saw the same determination that had been etched there for years. In Hermione's, he saw fear and apprehension, but also the same passionate fire of determination that is was Harry's eyes.

He continued. "I will first read to you the fragments of the prophecy that we have obtained. We have reason to believe there is more, but at present we cannot say for certain how long it is, or what exactly it refers to; though we do have our ideas." He cleared his throat and began to read from a stiff piece of parchment.

"_A silent tear has fallen to Earth, but without it's knowledge, it has no worth. The one who in their hands it lay, must be the one to use it that day. Without its glow to light the field, opposing forces shall not yield._ _A tear of love, a tear of hate, this single tear controls the whole world's fate. Will she offer her throat to the wolf with red roses, or will her mind freeze her from the drastic poses. Connected on a higher lever to the One, will she be willing to forever only live for the sun? The moon is a shadow, one that she cannot overcome, but before it is over, the two shall become one. Wisdom beyond her years swims through her mind, but the task at hand is not an easy one with which to bind. A tragic loss, a terrible cost, but without her power, all will be lost."_

Dumbledore rolled the parchment up and and placed it in his robes. "We know there is more to this prophecy but we couldn't gather it from Severus' memory. We will however strive to find it soon."

A heavy silence hung in the air as every mind struggled to decipher the puzzle. Finally Moody spoke.

"Well if anything, this is a suspense builder, don't you agree? Is this supposed to make this little girl's job any easier?"

"I do believe it is an age old standing rule that prophecies are to be mysterious, so that only those that are really worthy of the information can comprehend it, which we will." Dumbledore began.

"Well why don't they just make our lives easier and be bloody direct and tell us?" Ron grumbled. Two of his best friends were in great danger, and he felt there was nothing he could do. This comment earned him an instant glare from his mother, causing him to shrink back in his chair, despite himself.

Hermione was sitting still and stating intently at the floor between her feet. Remus could sense her distress and tried to enter her mind.

Hermione, love. It will be ok. We will work this out, don't you worry. You're not alone…Hermione?…Hermione?

But Hermione was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to pay his any attention. Remus gave up after a couple of minutes. He contemplated just listening to her thoughts, but he felt that if ever there was a time she needed privacy to think to herself, it was then. So instead, he refocused his attentions on Dumbledore, who had begun speaking again.

"These are dark times in which we live. If wewish to restore the Old ways, we must unite and held each other. Each and every member should work towards unraveling this puzzle if we expect to win…"

"The Dark Lord isn't just sitting in some dark lair waiting you know!" Snape interjected fiercely. "He is plotting and planning and torturing and killing every second, of every minute, of every day. Even if you always expect the unexpected with you, you will still be shocked constantly. His power and forces are growing; people who have been neutral up until this point are turning towards His side in fear for their lives! They weighted the strengths and decided it was safer to be on the dark side than on the light. Whatever we must do to regain control of our world, we must do, and do quickly. The Dark Lord will have no mercy on those who stand in his way."

This rare burst of passion from Snape caused everyone to stir and whisper amongst themselves. Dumbledore took this as a sign of unrest and adjourned the meeting. Everyone instantly stood up and began talking and moving around. Needless to say, this frenzy made it easy for Hermione to slip away without anyone noticing. She left the room and walked out the front door. She didn't care where, but she had to get away for a while.

XXXXXXXXXX

When Dumbledore finished, Minerva had temporarily distracted Remus. She was still standing at the front of the room, all alone. She caught his eye and motioned for him to come over to her. So he did.

"Remus, we know that you are part of this. Dumbledore knows more than he is letting on; he says he can't even tell me. But he insists that the "task" deals specifically with Hermione and you. I wish I could tell you what to do in this situation, but I can't." She said with a worried face.

Under normal circumstances, Remus would have been more than happy to discuss the situation with Minerva; he admired her greatly. As it was, he needed to talk to Hermione. _Hermione._ He looked around the room for her but couldn't see her.

"Thank you Minerva. I will keep in mind that you are more than willing to help." He replied quickly. She nodded, and then he turned to search the room more thoroughly for Hermione. She was nowhere in the room. He searched the living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, bathrooms, everywhere. He then went out on the roof to check their spot that they had deemed "the outlook." She wasn't there. Now beginning to get worried, he tried to contact her mind.

Hermione? Hermione love. Where are you? I've been looking for you forever but I can't find you.

There was a momentary silence, but then she thought/replied.

Remus, I'm fine. I just need to be alone right now. So don't try to read my thoughts, please. I really need to think, but I don't need it to be a discussion….

_Alright love. I won't read your thoughts, I swear. I know how it feels to just want to be alone. Just… when you are ready to talk, let me know._

_I will. Thank you Remus._

_I love you._

………

XXXXXXXXXX

Remus sat in silence on the outlook. She hadn't said she loved him back. And now she was giving him a blank mind, his cue to stop trying to read her mind. Over the past few weeks, they had learned to control their thoughts and thought-reading. While in the beginning, everything could be read, now they could limit what the other could hear, though not stop it completely. So if they wanted privacy, they would simply think of "blankness" to get the point across. Then the other person could tune the other person's thoughts out. Hermione could tell when Remus was reading her mind; when he was, her necklace would vibrate slightly. But poor Remus could never tell when Hermione was reading his.

_She deliberately didn't say she loved me. _He thought at first. He picked up a few twigs and tossed them off of the outlook side. He cursed and wiped his face with his hand. _I know she loves me; she's said it a million times. She must just really need to be alone right now… You've been there and done that yourself Remus old boy. _He recollected times in his teens when he would storm off from the castle to be alone. He somehow always managed to make his way to the tavern. Something about the crystal lights and the smallness of the tavern comforted him. He recalled a particular memory from his 7th year.

One night Remus had entered the Gryffindor commonroom after finishing a research paper in the library. The entire house seemed to be gathered there, so he pushed his way through the crowd to find James and Sirius and Peter. He found them at the center of the insanity.

"Alright alright alright," Sirius shouted over the crowd. "So tomorrow night, some of us are going to go down to the kitchens and get lots of food. Shrink it down so that it will all fit in a bag. Then some other people will gather the blankets, pillows, and whatever else you choose to bring out. The REST of us will be sneaking down to Hogsmeade to get enough butterbeer and firewhiskey to get the entire house drunk and have some to spare. Everyone knows their parts, so tomorrow night, we will all meet down by the lake at midnight. Ladies and gents, find a partner and plan on having a good time at makeout part of the century, hosted by your very own Gryffindor 7th years!" He paused for cheers from the entire house. By now, he, Peter, and James had pulled Remus up on the table with them. Remus was basking in the attention as much as his buddies. They all took a bow and jumped off the table into the crowd.

"Remember now," James said to the general public as he approached Lilly, "this is a top secret mission." He stopped directly in front of her. "You know, the kind of thing that requires a private eye to investigate every inch of the super hot evidence." He winked at Lily, who rolled her eyes at him but smiled.

"James Potter, when will you ever get the point?" She said with mock exasperation.

"Well you haven't turned me down yet, now have you?"

"That's because you haven't asked me anything yet!"

"That's never stopped you before." He joked.

Again Lily rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully. He just smiled at her. "Well?" she asked.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask me to spend the night with you at the party tomorrow night?"

"I don't know, Lily… I'm a very busy man, and I have many offers I could take up. It seems everybody wants a piece of this." His big head was speaking as he ran his hands through his hair.

"FINE then!" Lily said as she turned and left him standing with his friends.

"Go get her!" Peter said.

"Ahh… how have you yet to learn, Peter?" Sirius said. "This is how they always do. In approximately 5 minutes, James will go chase her down. They'll have a pretend fight, then they'll end up snogging in the corner…. Right Remus?"

"Huh? OH yeah. Right." But Remus' mind was far from being on James and Lily. The excitement had died down, and since his mind was now clear, a terrible thought popped back into his mind. "Guys. Do you know what tomorrow night is?"

"Umm…. The night I plan on getting drunk and finding a lucky lady after all these blasted NEWTS." Sirius said matter-of-factly.

But James picked up on the problem. "It's the full moon, isn't it?"

Remus nodded. They all stood in silence for a moment.

"Well you know what this means, we'll just move the party to another night and…"

"NO!" Remus shouted. He noticed people were looking at him strangely so he toned his voice down. "I will not let you change the entire house's plans for me." And with that he stormed out of the room. He went down to the kitchen, gathered a bit of food, and headed out to the tavern. He needed to be alone. He didn't want to be bothered by anyone.

He stayed out the entire night and the entire next day. Thankfully he had grabbed his Wolfsbane on the way out. He took it and layed down and prepared to spend his second night alone in the tavern.

He woke up for his changes. They were always painful, but the Wolfsbane helped a little with the pain; it also let him keep his human mind while in the wolf form. He decided to sneak out of the tavern and look down on the lake from his spot on the hill. As he left the tavern, he found Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail laying just outside the entrance in their Animagus forms.

They looked up at him, and they all walked up to him and nudged him affectionately. He walked to the edge of the forest to see the party, only to find it was still down there. His friends had stood by his wishes to not cancel it; instead, they joined him in the forest that night.+

Remus woke up from his temporary stroll down memory lane as rain drops started to fall on his head. He entered the house, but didn't feel like being around people either. So instead, he went back to his room and layed down on his bed. Had It really only been last night that he and Hermione had shared the most intimate time in their relationship in that very bed? He breathed in the pillow she had used; it smelled like her hair. He wanted to know where she was, but knew he should honor her request that he not try to contact her again. It meant a lot to him that his friends had been able to support him as he asked, and Hermione deserved no less. So instead, he settled for picking up a book and reading.

He quickly fell asleep. He had a short but troubling dream. All he saw were flashes of a stormy sky, rain, a train, blood, and Hermione screaming. The cycle kept repeating itself. He tried to wake up, but found that he couldn't.

_REMUS!_

A/N: Hehehe. This is the firs time I've updated in forever! I'm really sorry. Next chapter should be up soon, and sorry for the new evil cliffy. OH and I hope you weren't too disappointed with the current prophecy. Remember, it's all that could be heard from Snape's memory…..


	15. Tears and Rain

Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I do not own anything except the plot

A/N: Heads up, there's violence in this one.

_REMUS!_

Remus lay in bed, thrashing about madly. He knew he needed to wake up; Hermione was in trouble. But he couldn't end the violent cycle of images running through his subconscious mind.

"Remus……" he heard his name again, but this time it wasn't Hermione. As he tried to figure it out, he felt himself being shaken by someone and something rancid being poured down his throat. After a few moments, he was able to open his eyes and sit up slowly. He looked around and saw Dumbledore, McGonagall, Madame Pomfrey, Sirius, Ron and Harry standing around his bed.

"I have to go now…" he started, but found himself being quieted and forced to remain in his bed.

"You'll not be moving again for a couple of hours Remus," Madame Pomfrey said matter-of-factly. "You were in a sort of self-induced coma. When nobody had seen you in almost two days, Sirius decided to come and…."

"Self-induced coma….wait…..TWO DAYS?" Remus shouted; his head protested in the raised voice, but he continued. "It took you people nearly two days to realize I wasn't around?"

"Well Remus," McGonagall began, "the prophecy had just been revealed. It was only natural to assume that you and Hermione would need time to adjust to the extent of importance…."

_Hermione._

"I have to get up, now. Hermione is in trouble. And if you people would have been more thoughtful and realized that she was missing too, than you wouldn't be standing around me."

"Hermione's locked in her bathroom…." Harry said slowly. "She won't let anyone come in, and she hasn't left that we know of. We've knocked on the door, and she'll just tell us she's fine and to leave her alone, so we have."

"She's… in the bathroom?" Remus restated doubtfully. "No. No she's not. Go up there and bust the bloody door down. Better yet, move, I'll do it." And despite protests from Madame Pomfrey AND his body, he leapt out of bed and made his way to the room that Hermione shared with Ginny and Tonks. He proceeded to walk towards their bathroom door.

"She won't let you in…."Ginny said from her bed, but she was hushed by Remus' hand being held up in her direction. He walked to the door and knocked.

"Hermione love, are you in there?" **thudthudthud. **

"Yes I'm in here…. Now just leave me alone." Hermione's voice sounded from inside. It was definitely her voice, but Remus knew she wasn't in there. He had been trying to contact her telepathically ever since he woke up, but she wasn't answering. But whenever they were close to each other, there was a certain magnetic-like pull between them. If she were just on the other side of the door, than he would be feeling the pull; he wasn't.

He pulled out his wand and blasted the door down with ease. Much to everyone's surprise but except his, Hermione wasn't inside. There was a device on the back of the door. Every time you knocked on the door, there was a recording of Hermione's voice that would play.

"How the bloody hell did you know she wasn't in there!" Ron asked incredulously.

"I'll explain later. Right now though, we have to find Hermione. She's in trouble. Last I heard from her, she was taking a walk but didn't have a destination in mind. Now, let's split up and…"

"Wait a second. How do you know she's in trouble, and how were you talking to her if she was somewhere else? I know that you don't have cell phones…." Harry asked.

"Again, I'll explain later. Now, do you have the Map with you?"

"Well not with me, but it's in my room… do you want me to…."

"Yes, go get it and hurry." By this time Remus had sat down on Hermione's bed; his body really wasn't stable enough to remain standing. Ron approached him, as did Sirius. Dumbledore took a hint and herded Ginny and Minerva out of the room; this was a Marauder and Golden trio (Well minus Hermione) moment.

Harry returned with the Marauder's map and tossed it to Remus.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." He mumbled under his breath as he tapped it with his wand. It opened, and the map of Hogwarts grounds appeared, complete with everyone's positioning. He then tapped the top left corner of the map. To everyone's surprise, the map changed and showed the entire European continent. There were no dots referencing where people where, but there was a number in each country representing how many magical people where there.

Ron and Harry were staring agape at the map.

"Yes, I know you didn't know this about the map. There would really be no reason in particular for you to know that though in the past, or this for that matter." He proceeded to trace a spiral in the bottom center of the map. A box appeared in the middle of the spiral. He then muttered "Harry Potter" and tapped the box. The map flashed and zoomed in to England. He tapped the box again and it zoomed in to London. Again he tapped, and this time it zoomed in on 12 Grimmauld Place. Now everyone in the building had a dot representing them, with a star on Harry.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed. "That's brilliant!"

"Why thank you," Sirius beamed.

"As if YOU had anything to do with it Padfoot," Remus joked half-heartedly. "Actually Harry your father is the one who decided we should make it function globally. Never thought we'd need it for a missing person's job, but everything happens for a reason I suppose."

Harry had inched so close to Remus that he could smell the medicine on his breath. He scrutinized the map. "Anything else this thing can do?"

Remus laughed. "A little, but I'll teach you both after we find Hermione. Now then. As you just saw, I can search for any magical persons on the face of the earth. And again, you saw the precision that the map has, even through all of the magical barriers here. Now let's search for Hermione."

"Hey let me do it this time," Sirius commanded more than asked. Remus shrugged his shoulders and decided to resume trying to contact Hermione.

_Hermione, we're worried. Where are you? Come on love, listen to me, let me in. _

He continued to try to 'talk' to her.

Sirius tapped the box, and said "Hermione Granger." The map zoomed back out to the globe. It then proceeded to seemingly "scroll" the world in search of Hermione. It finally stopped in the northern Pacific ocean. Sirius frowned at the map, Harry and Ron shot worried glances at each other, and Remus was so engulfed in trying to reach Hermione that he had his eyes closed and wasn't paying attention.

"Remus, what're you…" Harry began.

Remus sighed. "I suppose I should tell you under the circumstances, but the three of you must promise to keep this secret. Hermione and I have been able to communicate telepathically for months now." He waited to see what their reactions would be.

To his relief, they didn't seem to think he was insane. He continued, "we think it's because of the necklace somehow, but of course we're not sure how…. And,"

"Remus, that's great and all and I'd really love to hear about it later… but you need to look at this." Sirius said.

Remus leaned back up over the map and as soon as he saw Hermione's name in the ocean, he shot a glance at Sirius. "Did you do it right?"

"Of course I did it right!" Sirius retorted. "I've used this just as much if not more than you Moony."

Remus took his wand back out and tapped the zoom box. It zoomed in, and still all they could see was Hermione's dot in the ocean. He kept tapping it, but it could zoom in no farther.

"We have to go… NOW!" Remus shouted. He again leapt up and ignored his throbbing head.

_Hermione love, we're coming. Hold on, wherever you are. Talk to me if you can. Hermione…._ He kept trying to contact her as the four of them barged out of the room. "Sirius, go talk quickly to Dumbledore in private and tell him where we're going. He should stay here and not alert the others; we don't need everyone going even more insane than they already are. Harry, Ron, get the cloak and fetch all of our brooms. Everyone dress warmly, and meet me outside in 5 minutes. Be prepared for a long flight." They all nodded and took off without asking a question.

Remus was left standing in the hall. He let out a heavy sigh, and let a single tear fall from the corner of his eye. He went to his bedroom and changed into something warm. Then he went to Hermione's room and picked a coat up out of her wardrobe. He knew that when she had left, she was only wearing light clothes; she would be freezing. He shuddered as he thought of the different meanings that could imply in the given situation….. he couldn't think like that, he'd never be able to find her if he did.

He hurried outside as Sirius was. Ron and Harry were already outside with the brooms. Without a word, the four of them took off with a kick.

XXXXXXXXXX(backtracking in time a lil bit to the end of last/beginning of this chap.)

Hermione shuddered in the cold wind. She wrapped her arms around herself tightly and tried to snuggle down on the ground. The sand scratched at her face. _Sand? _She sat up, but her head was throbbing violently. After a few moments of steadying herself, she began to try to think about what exactly had happened.

She decided to take her broom out. She despised flying, but she wanted to get out to the open countryside, and it beat walking. So she flew until she got out of the city, and then landed firmly back on the ground. She wandered alongside some old traintracks. She began to think. Her necklace vibrated, then she heard Remus trying to check on her. She sighed, assured him that she was fine, and then begged for privacy. He obliged; she knew he would. That made her feel good; she really loved that man.

She continued to walk alongside the traintracks. It began to drizzle lightly. She stopped and lifted her face to the sky, letting the tiny droplets tickle her face. The rain began to pick up a quicker pace, and soon she was drenched, but still standing in the same spot. Lightning began to flash in the sky, and thunder clapped heavily. She heard the distant sound of a train horn decided to walk in the direction of the train. As she walked and drug her broom behind her, she began to think seriously about the prophecy she had just heard. She couldn't believe that she, Hermione Granger, muggle-born 7th year witch held such a critical role in defeating the Dark Lord. Many people didn't know it, but Hermione wasn't always as confident as she appeared. She actually doubted things all the time, but she pretended to be sure of herself nonetheless. Because if other people believed in her, than she could in turn believe in herself. In this new situation, she wasn't quite sure that everyone else really believed in her, so in turn she was strongly doubting her own abilities.

As she continued down the track, the train's light came in to sight in the distance. Suddenly, she saw a person running in up ahead of her, traveling the same direction as she was; towards the train. It was running quickly, so Hermione ran herself to stay caught up. As the distance between herself, the mysterious person, and the train closed, Hermione became distinctly aware that the person in front of her was a man she knew. Even through the dark and the rain, she would know that body anywhere. Remus.

"Remus….?" She shouted. He continued to run, so she had to keep speeding up. "Remus? Wait up, where are you going?" She was slightly agitated that he'd followed her, but she also felt worried. Had something happened at Grimmauld?

She was now only feet away from Remus, and he was merely yards from the train. He darted to cross the traintracks just as she called his name again at the top of her lungs to get his attention.

"REMUS?"

He halted in the middle of the tracks and turned to look at her, as if just noticing she was there for the first time. The moonlight was on his face; it was definitely Remus. He smiled at her, but she didn't smile back. She could already see what was going to happen. Before she could yell at him to move, it was too late. The train was upon him.

_REMUS!_

She sank down to the ground where she was. Her mind, her heart, her very soul had just been ripped to shreds. She found her voice within seconds.

"REMUS!" she squealed through her hysterical sobs, "Remus…. Oh my god oh my god oh my GOD!" she curled up in a ball where she was and cried until she felt she would pass out from dehydration, all the while screaming at the top of her lungs. Still she continued to bawl and scream.

She struggled to her feet. She couldn't leave, but she couldn't force herself to approach the scene of the accident. So, so stood there swaying, all the while still crying. But now her yelling had subsided to soft moans of agony. The sky poured in symmetry with her eyes, attempting in vain to flood the world and wash away the pain.

She heard a rustle behind her. She turned just in time to see three dark figures pulling out their wands. She pulled her own out rapidly. She had learned quite a lot in preparation for the War, so she managed to disarm two of them, flinging their wands out into the nearby woods with a flick of her own. She focused her attention on the third person; he still had his wand and was firing curses at her instantaneously. She was countering them all, and she thought she had a clearing to attack him. As she raised her wand though, she felt a heavy blow to the side of her head. Then there was blackness.

Hermione snuggled further into the sand. So, apparently one of the first two thugs had knocked her upside the head while she wasn't paying attention. That made sense. But Remus…….

She began crying again, but this time it was a mournful, not violent. She couldn't think about that now. Right now she had to get her mind on something else. Like…. Where she was.

She looked around and realized she was on an island; a very tiny island. She could see all parts of it from where she sat. There was only sand, no vegetation. She stood up to take her situation in. Her broom lay at her feet; but it was snapped in half. _That does me a lot of good. _She thought sarcastically. Then she noticed a brown backpack laying beside it. She cautiously opened it. It was full of bottles of water, boiled eggs, and bread. _Ok, so whoever put me here doesn't want me to die. That could be good or bad. _She plopped back down in her little trench. She pulled out a bottle of water and a piece of bread; she was famished. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, and then she had only picked at it. She starred at the food and drink. She then impulsively threw all of the food and all of the water out to the ocean, and watched it drift away in the current.

With nothing else to do, she thought. She thought about Remus. Of how much she loved him, and of how much he had loved her. Of how little she could remember from the past years that didn't involve him in some way; and of how she wouldn't change that for the world. The Fates would curse her to have to sit alone on a tiny desert island just after the love of her life had……

Suddenly, it hit her. She had realized the entire time that he was dead. Now it hit her that he would never be coming back. There would never be any more little kisses, no more late night readings snuggled on the couch, no more watching him and Sirius behave just like Ron and Harry, no more magical nights entwined in his sheets…….

It was too much. She couldn't bear to live without him. The prophecy came to mind; she was the key to defeating Voldemort. But Remus was also a part of it too, so without him, it couldn't happen anyway. The world would go on without her, though it may be a dark one. But she couldn't go on without Remus.

She walked to the water's edge. Silently crying, she cupped her hands full of the salty water and brought it to her lips.

_I'll always love you; no matter what happens. _

She teared up even more as she remembered him whispering that in her ear so lovingly late one night. He thought she was asleep, but she wasn't. Now was the time to prove her love. They could be together on the other side. The world was now doomed; it didn't need her.

Her body automatically repulsed the salt water, but she continued to drink anyway. Even in her time of desperation, Hermione remembered that drinking salt water would quickly dehydrate the body. So she drank until her stomach felt it was stretched to its limit, then she drank some more. She passed out at some point in the early morning at the edge of the water.

_Hermione….._

XXXXXXXXXX

**IMPORTANT A/N**: AHHH EVIL CLIFFY!  This one's a little shorter than usual, but it's such a good stopping place, don't you think? Now, here's the issue. I've been writing this story for a while, and it's pretty long, and pretty intense. But I have very little reviews. I've been patient, hoping they would build up, but they haven't. (To my few faithful reviewers, thank you and this doesn't apply to you.) So I'm forced to throw out an ultimatum: review, or I will not continue to publish this here; I'll take it elsewhere. Because if nobody is interested in this storyline…. Well why continue it? I NEED your opinions; I need your feedback. Help me out here.

Planning on updating within the week, that is if you decide you're interested…….


	16. Tiny Problems

Disclaimer: Not mine

"How much further?" Ron asked, his voice full of worry.

"Well we can't really be sure; a general location in the ocean may take a while to search." Sirius replied as he continued to fiddle with the map.

It was pitch black outside, and the only lights they had were those of the stars and their wands. Harry watched Remus fly up ahead of the rest of the group. They were all terribly worried, but Harry had the feeling that as bad as he felt, Remus was much worse off. He was muttering under his breath, and leaning over his broom intently.

Harry used his Seeker skills to catch up with Remus. "How are you?"

Remus turned to stare at him blankly for a moment. "How the hell do you think I am Harry?" he snapped. Harry didn't respond. Remus shook his head and sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't mean to bite your head off."

"It's ok, really. I'm really worried about her, we all are. But we understand that you and she are even closer now than she is with Ron and me," Harry paused thinking about that fact. It was hard to believe that now Hermione had somebody that was placed before him and Ron. He continued, "But we'll find her; we have to."

Remus abruptly stopped flying. He sat up tall on his broom and looked around in every direction. Harry stopped with him, and Sirius and Ron caught up with them. "She's this way." Remus said and took a sharp right turn. The others could do nothing but follow him. He plunged on ahead into the night, occasionally taking a turn or pausing.

"What's he doing?" Ron whispered to Sirius.

"Well, I think that he can sense where she is," Sirius said hesitantly. "Um, at least I hope that's what it is. Otherwise, we're wasting our time chasing a madman. Just keep your eyes peeled for her, alright?"

Ron nodded. Harry was still focused on getting his thoughts under control. He was trying to imagine how he would feel if it were Ginny who were lost. An overwhelming feeling of loss and self-blame fell upon him; even more than he was feeling with it being Hermione. At that thought, guilt began to bubble in his gut. Shouldn't he be more worried about Hermione being gone? After all, they had been friends forever and had been through so much together. She was even the one to remind him of how he really felt about Ginny. _So what was the difference between it being Hermione missing or it being Ginny? _He continued to ponder.

Remus began to nosedive down. They were flying very high, so to the other three, it seemed like they were spiraling towards the sea. But they trusted Remus; he knew what he was doing…. Didn't he?

Remus was out of their sight. He really could fly very fast when he wanted to. Even Harry couldn't keep up with him.

"There!" Sirius shouted joyously. He pointed for the boys. The sun was beginning to come up, and just below them a tiny island could be seen, if it could even be called that. It was more of a high sandbar in the midst of the ocean. Remus had already landed and was running across the sand.

Harry sped up. He landed shortly behind Remus. He hurried in the direction Remus had run. As he ran, he was still trying to figure out what the difference was between how he felt at that moment and how Remus felt. Didn't he have a huge crush on Hermione just recently? As he finally approached Remus and Hermione, it struck him.

Remus was kneeling over Hermione, one hand on her head entwined in her hair and the other wrapped around her waist. His head was on her chest, checking for a heartbeat. The look on his face, the tenderness of his actions, and the tears streaming freely down his face said it all for Harry.

Remus loved Hermione. It was that simple. Remus loved her in a way that Harry never had and never could. He wasn't just dating Hermione; his love was real. _Just the way I feel for Ginny._ He realized suddenly. With a new feeling of self-awareness, he came to terms with reality and ran to squat beside Remus to appraise Hermione's condition. By that time, Ron and Sirius were arriving at the scene too.

"How is she?" Harry asked immediately.

Remus paused to breathe. "She's unconscious. Her pulse is slow, but still there. Her extremities are freezing and her lips are blue, so there's little circulation. And from the dryness of her mouth and skin, I would say she is heavily dehydrated. Other than that I…. I just don't know." He choked up. Ron and Harry were terrified and didn't know what to do.

"Come on, pal." Sirius said softly. "It'll be ok. Let's see if we can wake her up enough to give her some water. Then we'll wrap her up in her coat and the cloak to warm her up. As soon as we get back to land we can apparate back to Grimmauld to cut down on flying time. She needs Madame Pomfrey's attention; she can fix anything."

Remus nodded and began to doctor Hermione as best as he could. He gently lifted her and wrapped her coat around her. She lay limp in his arms; not a good sign. Sirius pulled a bottle of firewhiskey out of his coat. With a very slight grimace, he poured the majority of its continents out on the sand. He then scooped up seawater. He transformed it to clean water and offered the bottle to Remus.

Remus gently opened Hermione's mouth with his fingertips. He poured a little bit of water in and angled her body so that she wouldn't strangle on it. Once he thought he had given her enough, he lifted her again. He wrapped the invisibility cloak around her body as if she were an infant. Her face was all that could be seen.

"Come on," He grumbled. He scooped up his broom and climbed on with Hermione still in his arms.

"Hey Remus, do you want me to hold her? I mean, I am a little bigger than you and you're very stressed right now, and it's a long flight…." Sirius said quietly as the boys took off.

Remus glared at him. _Uh-oh. _Sirius thought. _I've ticked him off; he's going to be a regular beast the rest of the way home. _

"Do you mean to suggest Padfoot, that I am incapable of taking care of my Hermione? That perhaps you are more powerful, more dominating, than me? Pray excuse my bluntness, but one of us turns into a savage once a month. EVERY month of EVERY year of their life. If that person cannot bear the burden of such a small person as my Hermione, than they are worthless. Are you suggesting that I'm worthless Padfoot?"

"Now Moony you know I never said that. It was just a suggestion. I…."

"Save it." Remus muttered at he kicked off from the ground. He guided the broom with one hand, and clutched Hermione with the other.

Sirius watched his friend fly off in wonder. "Sometimes he can be so… wolfish." He grinned slightly as he kicked off from the ground. "Wait up you old furball!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at Number 12 Grimmauld Place, people were going crazy. Secrets aren't very easily kept in a house full of people, much less witches and wizards. Shortly after the four of the guys had left, word began circulating that Hermione was missing and had been missing for two days. Who was the culprit who told?

Ginny Weasly.

She had done it innocently enough; she had just told her mother. Big mistake. Mrs. Weasly was as much of a gossip and a worrywart as she was a loving mother. Soon the entire house knew, and it was all Dumbledore could do keep the house from being torn apart.

While all of this was going on, two people were sitting on the stairs watching. A male and a female. "It's burning," she said. He nodded in agreement.

"Come, we must go now." He replied. They stood up together and walked out the front door unnoticed.

XXXXXXXXXX

As soon as they were over land, Remus landed. The others followed him. "Here," he said shoving his broom in Harry's hand. "We're going to have to send those back on their own. Do you know how to do that?"

"I do Remus, I'll handl…."

"Sirius I don't think I asked you, did I?" he paused. "Harry, do you know how?"

Harry nodded that he did.

"Good. So I'm going on with Hermione. Sirius you stay with the boys and once the brooms are sent on their way, you three can come on back." He didn't want around for questions or comments. He pulled Hermione tight and apparated the two of them to Grimmauld.

There was a moment of silence between the three of them. Ron broke it.

"Whew, Sirius, you've really made him mad somehow!" His eyes were as round as saucers.

"Yeah I did," he muttered. "Old werewolf needs to get a hold of his hormones."

Harry was sending the brooms off as the other two were conversing. He approached them when he finished.

"Ready to go?"

"Umm. Yeah, let's go now." Sirius said with a note of worry in his voice. Ron hadn't seemed to notice it, but Harry had. Sirius put both his arms around the boys just as Harry's scar began to burn.

"Siri.."

"I know." He whispered. And with that, he apparated the three of them back to the front steps of Grimmauld place.

XXXXXXXXXX

When they walked in the door, everyone was already frantically discussing Hermione's condition. Ron and Harry ran up to Dumbledore.

"Where is she?" The boys asked in unison.

"I believe they have her up in her room," He began. "But if you must go in, you must sneak in; Madame Pomfrey will let no one inside yet, not even Remus."

The boys looked at each other then. _Uh-oh. _Just then Sirius approached them.

"Albus, could I have a word with you?" Ron looked confused, but Harry knew something was up; his scar was still burning.

"Of course, my boy." He replied. The men walked away, leaving the boys to climb the stairs and face a very disgruntled Remus.

"Why do we Gryffindors have to be so damn brave and honorable?" Ron mumbled as he followed Harry up the stairs. This caused Harry to smile briefly. Very briefly.

Because when they rounded the corner to reach Hermione's room, they saw Remus. He was sprawled out in the floor of the hall. His hair was disheveled and he looked like he'd been crying.

The boys looked at each other again, and Harry took the first step towards Remus. "Remus… are you ok?"

Remus looked up at the sound if Harry's voice and sighed. "No Harry, I'm not. I'm not because she's not. And there's nothing I can do for her." At this he began to choke up.

Comforting isn't a distinctly male characteristic, but Ron and Harry both ran to Remus' side and patted his back as best as the could. They didn't know what to say, because what Remus said was true. They felt the same way.

Remus let them hug him briefly, but quickly stood up and set them aside. "Thank you boys." He began pacing. The boys could do nothing but sit and watch. They couldn't even listen through the bedroom door because a silencing charm had been placed on it.

About that time, Sirius came bounding up the stairs. When he came around the corner, he and Remus stopped and stared at each other. In Remus' eyes there was anger; in Sirius' there was pity. Sirius took a step towards Remus, but Remus halted him by beginning to speak. Beginning to. He couldn't get any words out because he was choking up again. When Sirius saw that, he rushed to Remus' side and gently sat down with him on the ground. He hugged him tightly, and Remus broke down leaning into his shoulder. Sirius patted his back and let his soak his shirt.

Harry and Ron were watching this in amazement. It continued for a few minutes.

"I'm sorry, Padfoot," Remus began after he had regained some sense of composure.

"Don't worry about it Moony, I've dealt with you in worse conditions." He laughed.

_Remus…._

Remus jumped up quickly. He had heard Hermione. He strained to hear her again.

_Remus why did you leave me? I can't live without you._

Remus was confused. _I didn't leave you darling, I'm still here. They won't let me in…_

_I love you_

_I love you too 'Mione._

"I'm busting the bloody door down right now." Remus said. They all had seen him bust down a door not 24 hours before, so they had no doubts in their mind that he would do as he said.

He did.

They entered the room.

XXXXXXXXXX

Inside the room, Hermione was propped up on pillows in her bed. She was still not awake. She was having a reenactment of the accident run through her mind. _Remus…_ she called out to him. _Remus why did you leave me? I can't live without you._ She heard him reply, and it was too much. She had to get out of the dream. She would rather die a thousand deaths than live that moment again.

She forced herself to open her eyes.

And she saw him standing at her side. She also saw Harry, Ron, Sirius, and Madame Pomfrey standing around.

She tried to say something, but she had no voice. So instead she thought to him._ Remus! But you're… dead. Are you a ghost?_

Remus was taken aback. _I'm not dead love, and I never have been._

But… 

Don't worry love. Right now all that matters is you are alive, and we're together. I love you SO much baby. I'm not ever going to let you block me out of your mind again.

She smiled weakly. _Good. I love you too. But I'm sleepy…._

She yawned.

_Alright. You need to go back to sleep and…_

_NO Remus, don't leave me._

_I never would have dreamed of leaving you now that I have you back. _

They smiled at each other.

"She's going to be fine." Madame Pomfrey said with certainty as she checked Hermione's vitals.

"I know." Remus replied. "She wants to go back to sleep now though."

"How do you know that?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

"I'll explain on the way out," Sirius said as he guided her out of the room.

Harry and Ron hung around a couple more minutes.

"Are you sure you're alright, 'Mione?" Harry asked worriedly.

"Ya, you really scared us." Ron continued.

She nodded and smiled at her two best friends. She reached her arms out for hugs and they willingly obliged.

"Alright. We'll come check on you first thing in the morning." Harry said. He kissed her forehead and Ron kissed her cheek. And with that, Remus and Hermione were left alone. Remus kicked off his shoes and lay down with Hermione. It was only a full size bed, but they managed.

_Is there anything I can get for you? _Remus asked as he kissed every inch of her face.

No. This is all I could possibly want right now. But… I'm confused. How are you here right now? I saw the accident and…

_What accident?_

_When I was on my walk. I saw you get hit by a train._

Flashes of his violent dream darted through his mind. It had involved a train, and rain, and blood…..

Hermione, love. I was never around a train. To be honest I was in some sort of coma for the two days you were gone. Madame Pomfrey couldn't even wake me up. I only woke up after I had a terrible nightmare that ironically involved trains and some kind of accident.

Hermione pulled Remus closer to her.

_It was so real though. I SAW you get hit. _She started crying. _ I, I couldn't bare the thought of it. Then three people attacked me as I stood there crying by the railroad tracks…._

Remus looked at her worriedly. _You were attacked?_

_Well yes, but I was managing well enough until one of them decided to fight dirty and hit me in the head with something. The next thing I knew I was on that island. They left me food and water but I threw it all out to the sea. I was so depressed Remmi. I didn't want to live. I was fully prepared to lie there and dehydrate and die. I wanted to be with you again._

Remus turned to search her eyes deeply. _You mean that you were committing suicide…. Of a sort….. Because you thought I had died?_

Hermione nodded.

_Why would she do that? _Remus thought. Then he put himself in her position and realized that he would have done the same thing.

_Because you love me, and I love you. That's why. _Hermione replied.

_I'm beginning to think that none of this was an accident… _Remus thought. Hermione gave him a worried glance. _It will be ok. I'll talk to Dumbledore first thing in the morning. _Hermione nodded that she agreed. Remus then kissed her fully on the mouth. When they pulled apart, they both looked down on the necklace and saw that it was glowing a fiery red, casting a red haze on their faces. It slowly stopped glowing so brightly and just continued to swirl and sparkle.

They were both exhausted and began to drift to sleep. Remus had himself wrapped tightly around Hermione; he wasn't going to let anything else happen to her. The last thought that crossed his mind was:

_That thing really is beautiful…Too bad it's such a burden._

You have no idea. She replied sleepily.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the rest of the house was beginning to file off to bed at Grimmauld. When it seemed that the coast was clear, two people, a male and a female, came back inside. They walked through the entrance hall and towards the library. It was deserted, so they began to whisper.

"He wasn't happy with us," the female began as she rubbed her leg and side.

"Of course not. The plan to get her to kill herself didn't work."

"I still don't completely get it."

The man cursed under his breath. "Right now, she's untouchable because of the Tear and their love for each other. It's so strong that she was willing to die to get back to him. If she dies, then the necklace can be removed. If we get the necklace, we're guaranteed a victory at the final battle."

"Ah, that makes more sense. I thought we were just having her die to keep her from figuring out the Tear's power."

"She may be smart, but I doubt she'll ever figure that out. No, she's looking too hard when the answer is right under her nose; literally." At that they both laughed.

"Come on, let's set the new plan into action."

"What, tonight?…. don't you think it's a little, I don't know soon to…" the female began.

"No. The sooner the better. And if we do it now, the 'bad guys' who had it out for Hermione will be to blame; these people will never think of us. We'll just play the concerned friends part as always, my dear. The Dark Lord rewards those who please him." He held his hand out to lead the female to her feet.

"Alright, if you say so."

"I do."

And with that, they ascended the stairs.

XXXXXXXXXX

Albus Dumbledore was peacefully preparing himself for bed. It wasn't very often that a student went missing from his watch, and it had unnerved him that Hermione had been missing for a full two days before anyone had noticed she was gone. He sighed as he placed the cap back on the toothpaste tube. He looked up in the mirror at his reflection. _My I am getting old. _He thought to himself as he traced the wrinkles on his face. He straightened the nightcap on his head that matched his blue and white striped nightgown. He shuffled over to his bed, and with a flick of his hand turned the covers down and turned the lights off.

He crawled into his comfortable bed with a sigh. _Tomorrow I really must set aside all possible time to help Hermione. I don't care that I cannot tell her details; I'm at least going to give her hints to lead her on the right path. Curse these restrictions….if only I could tell her that the knowledge about the Tear is to be found IN the tear…._he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Just about the time Dumbledore began to dream of his early days as headmaster and chasing a certain Minerva around the castle, his door cracked open. It began to squeak, and a hurried silencing charm was placed on it.

Two dark figures crept to his bedside. One pulled out a vile of something purple, and the other pulled out their wand.

"We don't have to 'urt him, do we?" A distinctly feminine voice asked.

"No. Just pour this on his eyes and ears; it will insure that he stay asleep while we move him."

"Alright…." She said uncertainly. She opened the bottle and slowly poured its contents onto Dumbledore's eyes. His breathing became deeper that it previously was.

"Now then," the male began, "stand aside. I'm going to shrink him. Hold the sack open." The female obliged. The man took a second to stare at Albus. "I'm sorry we have to do this," he whispered. "But it's now the only way."

He proceeded to shrink the Headmaster of Hogwarts down to pocketsize. He placed him in the sack being held out in his direction.

"We must hurry," the male said. And with that, the two of them crept out of the room, quietly closing the door behind them.

A/N: ok this chap was a little boring to write…. That is until the end. The necklace…. What is Hermione not getting? What are the details of Hermione's abduction? Who ARE these mysterious people, why are they in the house, WHAT ARE THEY DOING WITH DUMBLEDORE? All this and more are coming soon… (Wow I feel like a TV person.)


	17. Wizard Chess

Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot, the wonderful JKR rules this universe

The next morning, Hermione woke up only to find that she couldn't sit up. After only a second of panic, she realized that it was because Remus had his arm thrown across her body possessively. She sighed and was content to snuggle closer to him and to drift back to sleep.

XXXXX

Downstairs, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were sitting at the kitchen table eating some toast and jam. They were all very worried about what all had happened and were trying to figure it out.

"Well I for one think that we all need to keep a closer watch on Hermione. She is ok this time, but she may not be so lucky next time." Ginny said.

"I wouldn't worry too much Gin," Ron replied, "I'm pretty sure that Remus won't let her out if his sight again until we finish this bloody thing."

Harry took a bite of his toast thoughtfully. "Do you know what I think?" The Weasley's shrugged their shoulders. "I think that we have to get to the bottom of that necklace, and quick. My scar has been burning constantly for the past few days, and it just got worse. I don't think that we have very much time left."

XXXXX

Meanwhile, Hermione woke up again, only to find Remus staring at her. She tried to laugh, but no sound came out.

_Now that's weird. Why can I still not talk?_ She thought as she furrowed her brow.

"Well my dear, you've done a lot of screaming in the not-so-distant past. I think your poor voice will need some time to recover." Remus said as he leaned down to kiss her gently on the lips.

Hermione sighed. _I couldn't have lived without this. _

"Neither could I."

The lovers gazed into each other's eyes. They could feel their desire for each other growing; and Hermione's necklace starting glowing brightly.

Remus broke the gaze and cleared his throat. "If we stay here, we will probably start to do things. And if we start to do things, I don't imagine that I could tear myself away from you at all. So I think it would be in everyone's best interest if we put that on hold until tonight and focus on getting you back up and about the house today."

Hermione put a pout on her lips, but he heard her thoughts and knew she agreed with him. So, very slowly, Remus helped Hermione stand up. She was a bit wobbly at first, but managed to walk to the bathroom by herself. She thought he was being ridiculous, but Remus wouldn't let her close the door all the way.

"The last time we thought you were behind a closed bathroom door, you were lying on a deserted island an inch from death. Forgive me for worrying," was his simple reply. She rolled her eyes, and went about her business.

A few minutes later, Hermione immerged from the bathroom. She had taken a quick shower and looked much better for it. Her hair was still wet, but she had piled it up in a messy bun. Her skin looked much more alive after the quick scrub than it had before. She had put on a simple pair of blue jeans and a navy blue sweatshirt with a big wizard hat on it. (Se had bought the sweatshirt at a production of Fantasia: on Ice while back in muggle London.) Remus let his eyes soak it all in; she looked adorable! It was all he could do to restrain himself from pulling her back to the bed. Instead, he offered her his arm and escorted her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

XXXXX

Harry, Ron, and Ginny were putting their dishes in the sink as Remus and Hermione entered the room. They immediately swarmed them.

"Mione, how are you feeling today?"

"Are you sure you should be out of bed?"

"Do you need us to get you anything?"

She smiled at her friends' concern. She started to reassure them all that she was fine, but still, no sound came out of her throat. She looked at Remus for help. He told the others her message.

"She says she is feeling a lot better, she is fine to be out of bed, and she could really use a glass of orange juice if anyone wouldn't mind fetching it for her."

Hermione sent Remus a quick glare. She in fact did want orange juice, but she hadn't told him to tell them to get it for her; she was going to do it herself.

_You're still weak, and they offered. Look, their even fighting over who will get to bring it to you. _Remus thought-replied.

It was true. Her best friends were squabbling over who would get to bring her the drink. Hermione sighed; she loved her friends and knew she was very lucky to have them.

The clock struck 11am. As the group in the kitchen began to laugh at a joke Ron had heard from Fred, Tonks came floating into the room. She said 'good morning' to them all, but when she saw that Hermione was up, she immediately rushed to the girl and hugged her.

"Oh my, you up so soon are you? Well, that's our 'Mione, always the little fighter." She said affectionately as she ruffled Hermione's hair. Hermione smiled at her; Tonks was actually growing on her.

Just then, Remus remembered that he needed to speak with Snape. "Tonks, do you know where I might find Severus? I needed to make sure that he has all of the ingredients for my Wolfsbane this month. I know we were running low and if we need anything, I can run get it for him."

Tonks dropped her hands to the counter in a motion that screamed "frustration." "If I knew where exactly he was, I would be more than happy to tell you. As it is, all I know is that Dumbledore sent him on some secret mission that he couldn't even tell me about!" She mumbled under her breath "I mean really, if you've got a girl willing to shag you every night, don't you think that she ought to be entitled to know things like this?"

Hermione laughed into her orange juice glass. Not as much because of what Tonks had said; but more so because as Tonks had been talking, Remus' thoughts had wandered to how he and Hermione would be spending the night. And at the mention of the word 'shag' he suddenly snapped out of his daze and had to try to pretend like he knew what Tonks had said.

Hermione decided to fill him in silently.

"Ah, well, if you do see him, tell him to come and find me please." He replied.

"Will do. Now I gotta run. I have an aerobics class at noon."

"I didn't know you were taking aerobics!" Ginny said admirably. "I've always wanted to try it."

"Well if you run and change then you can come with me!"

Ginny hopped off of the stool she was perched on and ran towards the kitchen door. She paused and turned around to ask, "Mione, its ok if I go right? I mean, I'll be back here for you the rest of the day."

Hermione smiled at her friend's concern and motioned for her to run along and have fun.

XXXXX

Harry and Ron decided that it was the perfect time to strike back up their chess tournament. Hermione went along with them into the library. Remus followed. Ron and Hermione entered the room first and immediately began to arrange chairs and a table by the fireplace. Remus caught Harry's arm by the door.

"I need to go speak with Albus." He began. "Watch after Hermione until I get back; don't let her leave your sight, understood?"

"Yes sir," Harry said as he looked evenly into Remus' eyes. "I understand. But, if you don't mind me saying so, Ron and I have been with her for much longer than you have. And if anyone should be telling anyone else to protect her, it should be us telling you."

Remus was taken aback; Harry was too. He started to apologize, but Remus just shook is head and have him an "I understand, it's ok" kind of look. He quickly patted Harry on the back and then left the room.

He thought to Hermione, _I'll be right back, love. Just stay with the boys ok? _

There was a moment's pause, and then she replied, _ok Remus, I promise to be good. Just hurry back. It'll be much more fun when you do return because A.) you can relay all my comments to them and B.) I will be sitting in your lap as opposed to this chair._

Remus smiled in spite of himself. _That's my Mione. _

XXXXX

Remus climbed the stairs and followed the corridor to Albus' room. He knocked on the door. After a few moments, he heard heavy feet shuffling across the floor. Seconds later, the door swung open and a very put together Dumbledore stood in front of him.

"Ah, Remus my boy, come in."

Remus did so, but hesitantly. Being a werewolf, he had heightened senses. And he couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Albus felt different. Remus decided to observe him over the next few minutes. _Maybe it's just my nerves on end still. _He told himself.

"So, what brings you to my room at this lovely hour?"

"Well sir, I was wondering if I may inquire as to the whereabouts of Severus."

Dumbledore paused. "I presume that you have spoken to Tonks?"

"Yes."

"Well then, you know that I cannot reveal that information then. It is not that I do not trust you; but we have seen as of late that there is apparently someone on the inside who is against us. And until that person or persons is discovered, nothing can be shared. You understand don't you?"

"Yes sir I do." Remus paused. "I do have one more concern though. Without Snape here, that only leaves Hermione to brew my Wolfsbane. And I do not doubt her abilities, but she has never done it on her own; Severus has always been there to supervise." He paused again. "You know what? Forget about that. I have complete confidence in her. But we will need to run to Diagon Alley to get ingredients; I know that Severus was running low on some things last month."

"Very well. I doubt that Severus will mind if you check the stock of ingredients in the lab downstairs. And I do believe that Miss Granger will be more than able to perform the required task. When is the full moon?"

"In 4 days."

"Well then. You can collect the missing ingredients today or tomorrow and be fine. Now if you will excuse me, I have some important correspondents to reply to."

"Of course, sir."

Dumbledore led Remus to the door. At the last second, Remus turned to ask one more question, a question he was sure that only Dumbledore would know the answer to.

"Sir, one more thing. I know it's not important, but it's going to bother me if I don't figure it out. My 7th year, what was the name of book I borrowed from you and spent the whole year obsessing over? I would just love to read it again."

"Let me think a second." Dumbledore adjusted the glasses on his nose. "I believe it was 'Advanced Defense: Succeed or Die Trying."

"Yes…. So it was. Well thank you Albus, I will be going now."

And with that, Remus left; the door shut quickly behind him.

Only slightly reassured by Dumbledore's book test, Remus returned to the library. When he opened the door though, his heart melted. For sitting around the chess board were all of his favorite people in the world. Ron was leaned over the table on one end, Harry at the other. Sirius was pacing around the table, making commentaries like "Oh, you should do this," and "Watch out, he's about to take out your queen," to both sides. And then there was Hermione. She was sitting in a big red velvet armchair with her legs crossed Indian style in the seat. She was laughing hysterically (though still silently) at the boys and kept poking and pestering them as they tried to concentrate. She had cleverly transformed couple of books into a dry erase marker board and markers so that she could write them messages and draw them pictures to amuse herself. She looked completely happy and comfortable.

Remus entered the room and her smile brightened even more. He came to her chair and she hopped up, let him sit in it, and then crawled into his lap. This only got a couple of glances before they were all engaged in the game once again. At that moment in time, it almost seemed like they were just a group of friends leading a normal life.

XXXXX

Around 2pm, Tonks and Ginny returned. They showered and ended up joining the group in the library. By this point in time, Remus and Sirius had taken the board and were competing in their typical way.

"Now listen Moony, you cannot move a bishop like that. They can only move horizontally and vertically."

"No, bishops move diagonally."

"NOooO they don't!" Sirius cried in exasperation.

"YES they do. Look, this is Wizard Chess. If I tell a piece to move somewhere it can't move, it won't move there. Look. 'Knight to A1." (nothing happens.) See?"

"Well then you're cheating."

"…..I'm cheating at a game of Wizard Chess that I am whipping your arse in already? Why would I do that?"

"YES! You've….you've put a spell on the board and now it is going to let you win no matter how well I play."

They continued to argue. Hermione was sitting on the floor leaned on Remus' legs, silently giggling. Harry and Ron were sitting on the other two sides of the board, watching and laughing too. Ginny came in and sat on the arm of Harry's chair, and Tonks came to stand beside Sirius.

The tournament continued for hours.

At 6pm, Molly was setting the table to dinner. She wondered where everyone was. She heard a loud cheer and decided to follow the sound. It led her to the library. She stopped at the door as a tear rolled down her cheek.

They were still gathered around the board. They were all having a genuinely good time. It broke Molly's heart to see them like this, because it was such a rare occasion_. These children, these people, should be able to live like this every day of their lives instead of having to deal with the things they deal with. It isn't fair._

Molly wiped the tear from her cheek and cleared her throat. "Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes. And I would suggest you come put something in your bellies if you intend to continue this competition all night."

They agreed. Hermione was in the middle of playing Harry. It was a much closer game than anyone would have expected. (But that was probably because of the silent coaching she was receiving from Remus.) They decided to stop and go eat dinner.

XXXXX

Dinner went on as usual, with the exception that Hermione still couldn't speak and that Snape was still missing from the table. After supper, the posse returned to the chess board. Harry ended up beating Hermione, but only barely. After that match, Hermione yawned.

_Are you sleepy, love?_

_Only sortof. But I would like for you to take me on upstairs……_

_Ah…. Alright._

He got the point.

"Well everyone, Hermione is tired and needs her rest. I guess that we will see you tomorrow morning then."

They were hit with many 'goodnight's and 'sleep well's. When the couple got to the stairs, Hermione walked in front of Remus. He grabbed her by the waist, whirled her around, and kissed her deeply right then and there.

After that, they scurried to Remus' room. Hermione hopped on the bed as Remus locked the door and cast a silencing charm on the room. They shared a magical night together, making up for the time they had lost, and for the time they had almost lost each other.

A/N: I know, not terribly interesting chapter, but it had to be done. Hopefully I can start making more time to write, especially since Christmas break is coming up soon! Sorry to have left yall hanging for so long!


	18. Connecting the Dots I

Sadly, I do not own the world of HP

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Shortly after Remus and Hermione went upstairs, the rest of the group left as well. As Harry, Ron, and Ginny were ascending the stairs, Ginny slipped her hand into Harry's. She leaned up and whispered in his ear, "I really don't want to stay alone tonight, will you come stay in my room?"

Naturally, Harry wanted to jump at the offer. But then he looked at Ron, who had already bounded up all the stairs and was waiting at the top; he didn't want to leave Ron alone in a room to go spend the night with his sister. Ginny noticed the confliction on Harry's face, so she quickly continued, "Or I could come stay with you and Ron. We don't have to DO anything…. I just want to be with you."

At that, relief flooded Harry's face. He really didn't want to have to choose between his girlfriend and his best friend.

They met Ron at the top of the stairs and informed him of the new situation. At first, he grimaced and stuck his tongue out in detest. But as he looked between Harry and Ginny, the disgust slowly melted away. "I may regret this and have to have Sirius perform a memory charm on me if I head ANYTHING, but fine Gin, you can stay with us."

Ginny hugged Ron and promised that she would behave. Harry and Ron went on to their room while Ginny went to her room to change into her pajamas. As she left her room to go to the boys', she heard something coming from Dumbledore's room down the hall. She decided to do a bit of sleuthing.

"But Bobo, we can't give him to the Dark Lord; you know what will happen if we do!" She heard Tonks' distinctively shrill voice.

"Yes my dear, it will mean trust, it will mean faith, and it will mean power for the both of us. Do you have any idea what handing him over will mean for us? It will be an ultimate test of loyalty, and he rewards his most loyal followers with things you cannot even begin to imagine." Dumbledore purred.

Ginny gasped; was she really hearing this? The room inside grew silent. Ginny decided to leave, and as fast as she possibly could. So she ran all the way to Harry and Ron's room, all the while thoughts racing through her head. Did Tonks and Dumbledore have it out for Harry?

When she got to the door, she opened without knocking. Ron was already asleep in his bed and Harry was sitting in his reading by lamplight. He looked up, put a finger to his lip to 'shh' her, smiled, and adjusted his glasses. When she saw him, she couldn't help it anymore. Tears began to pour freely; she was so scared now! If even the people they trusted most were traitors, there was very little hope left.

She ran to his bed and jumped in. He was confused as to why she was crying, but as he tried to ask her, she shook her head and snuggled under the covered with him, her head on his chest. Harry instinctively wrapped an arm around her and she sighed.

Harry turned out the lamp and leaned over to kiss Ginny softly. "You know," he whispered, "Ron is asleep…..." he left the implication hanging in the air as he began kissing her neck. Ginny laughed softly, and began to pull him closer to her. But she wouldn't go any further than snogging that night. She just wanted to cherish the time she had with Harry. She didn't get to tell him what she had heard outside of Dumbledore's room though, because her exhaustion from aerobics caught up with her and she fell asleep in his arms.

XXXXX

As soon as the sun peaked over the horizon, Remus was up and pacing the floor. The night before, Hermione fell asleep soon after they had…. Finished. But he couldn't sleep. Just as he was finally beginning to drift to drift away to slumber land, Hermione began thrashing around. She wasn't making any sounds, so he entered her mind to investigate. What he saw horrified him.

(Since it was Hermione's dream, he saw it from her point of view.) There was a dark room lit only by a fire in the fireplace. A large, high-backed chair was sitting in front of said fireplace and facing it. Hermione's hands and feel were bound and she was chained to the side of the chair, crying hysterically. A 'snap' was heard. There was a person sitting in the chair, and they were slowly snapping what looked like a stick. But at the 'snap' something inside of Hermione snapped too. _It's her wand. _Remus thought. The person cast the pieces into the fire and began to talk.

"My dear, you were much too difficult to convince to come here. It didn't have to be this way. But you called for drastic measures to be taken. So they were taken. To be honest, you made this too easy for me. Once we took the thing most important in your life out of it, we knew you would come to the search and rescue, Harry Potter in tow. And you did. Of course all of your other little friends did too. So now that Harry and all of the others are dead, I am left in a predicament. It seems that everyone is reunited on the other side, except for one particular Marauder….." at that, the person flicked their own wand and a door behind them flew open. In marched two Deatheaters dragging someone. _Oh my God, that's me! _ Remus was thrown onto the ground in front of them.

"Will this be all, Lord?" one Deatheater said. _So this is Voldemort….. _

"Yes. But why don't you stick around and enjoy the show?" He laughed, and the Deatheaters chuckled nervously.

Hermione still could not make any sound. But she was in hysterics and pleading with the Dark Lord in her mind with all of her being.

Remus was barely conscious, but when he caught Hermione's eye, he thought spoke to her. "Hermione Granger, I will always love you, no matter what happens."

"ENOUGH!" The Dark Lord roared with disgust. "Crucio!" he said as he pointed his wand effortlessly in Remus' direction. Hermione had to watch as her love was twitching and screaming, contorted in the most painful looking positions. After more time than Hermione thought any person could possibly live through, he stopped.

Hermione struggled against her bonds to try to reach Remus. She just kept on repeating over and over in her head "I love you so much, I love you I love you I love you….."

"Now my pet," Voldemort cooed, "I believe that you have something that I want." Hermione's eyes grew huge as she looked at the necklace. "WHY can't you just leave us alone? You've already won!" She thought to him. Voldemort ignored her.

"I think," he began, "that you should do the honors. Yes, Hermione. It's only fair."

He paused. "And I am a fair man. Isn't that right, Severus? Didn't I let you and Nymphadora have the honors of finishing off a certain old man? It was their prize for delivering him to me, you see." He smiled and then shouted, "IMPERIO!" It hit Hermione square in the chest.

She fought it for a long time, but she was too weak. She finally gave in. And when she did, he controlled her. He made her caress her own hair and lick her lips. She was disgusted but powerless to defend herself. But that was all he did in those regards. He moved in for the prize. He made her reach up for her necklace and take a hold of it. Voldemort was thrilled; she could see it in his eyes. "No. No no no no no….!" she kept thinking over and over.

"Say goodbye to Remus my dear." He said maliciously. And with that, he made her rip the necklace off of her neck.

Remus screamed on the ground and collapsed, not moving.

At the same moment, Hermione's voice came back; the necklace had been hindering it.

"NO!!!!! She screamed at the top of her lungs; she broke the curse. "Remus I love you, I'm so sorry!"

XXXXX

Remus was kicked out of her dream. That was when he got up and began pacing. When Hermione woke up, that was what she still found him doing.

_What's wrong with you, silly?_

Remus stopped and turned to face her. He ran to the bed, jumped on it, and began snogging her senseless.

_Well Remus this is nice and all but only a few hours ago we were still going strong, do you mean to tell me you aren't satisfied yet? _

_Trust me I'm more than satisfied. But I love you, more than life itself, I love you. That dream of yours…._

Hermione stopped, her brow furrowed. _What dream?_

…_.do you mean you don't remember any weird dreams from last night?_

_No, why?_

_Just checking. _He knew he shouldn't lie to her, but she had enough on her plate; she really didn't need more at this point. And if she really didn't remember the horrid dream, he wasn't going to make her live through it.

"Mione, we need to hurry and get up so that we can go get potion ingredients."

_Oh yeah, we really do. Let me get up and get ready and I'll meet you downstairs in 30 minutes?_

_Ok. But don't you dare try to keep me out of your mind; I have to keep sure that you're ok. _

She rolled her eyes at him but agreed.

So Hermione went back to her own room to shower and get ready.

Remus did the same in his room.

XXXXX

When Ginny woke up, both Harry and Ron were still asleep. She sighed and snuggled closer to Harry, deep in thought. She was convinced that she had heard right, and that Dumbledore and Tonks had it in for Harry. _But how do I tell him that? _She thought. _Dumbledore is like a grandfather to him; a mentor. He won't believe me, but I've got to try. _

When Harry did finally wake up, Ginny pulled him out of bed and told him to get dressed. When he asked why, her simple and constant reply was that "we're going for a walk."

Once dressed, they walked down the stairs and out the front door hand in hand. They ended up just parading the street in front of the house. She told him all she had heard the night before.

Harry was silent the entire time.

When she had finished, she looked expectantly at him. He sighed. "Well what do you expect me to say, Gin?" he asked. "I believe you heard what you heard, but I also can't bring myself to believe that Tonks and especially not Dumbledore could be my enemy."

"This isn't a game, Harry," Ginny replied. "Everything isn't going to be fair or right."

"Don't tell me 'it's not a game, Harry.' " Harry said through clenched teeth. "If anyone knows how real this is, it's me. And Dumbledore has been there for me every step of the way."

Ginny's eyes welled with tears.

Harry immediately felt bad.

He apologized. "I'm sorry Gin for snapping at you, really. I'll make it up to you. Tonight, I'll umm… watch one of those sappy muggle love movies Hermione got you hooked on without complaining once." She tried to stifle a laugh. He smiled, knowing he had won.

They walked back up to the house and ran in to Hermione and Remus leaving.

"A bit early for a walk, don't you think?" Remus asked.

"Well professor, early bird gets the worm, but the early lion gets the bird!" Ginny said. "Get it….? Lion…. We're all Gryffindors……" she faltered.

The others just laughed at how lame her joke was.

The four of them went their separate ways; Hermione and Remus to shop for supplies and Harry and Ginny to search for 'chickflicks.'

XXXXX

After a couple of hours spent meandering through wizard London, Remus and Hermione returned to Grimmauld. They took all of the newly obtained (and difficult to find) potion ingredients and put them downstairs in the make-shift lab.

_I need to get started right now, so you go on and find everyone else. I'll be there in about an hour. _

Remus was hesitant to agree, but the one time he had tried to watch Severus prepare his Wolfsbane, he had a severe allergic reaction to the first half of the brewing, so he kissed Hermione on the cheek and left in search of Sirius.

He found his hassling Molly and Tonks in the kitchen.

"Come on now Tonks, just let me lick the spoon, please?"

Tonks laughed and swatted his arm playfully. "I can't let you lick the spoon when I haven't finished stirring the cake batter yet! And Molly would hex me to the moon if I let you mess this cake up."

"That's right." Molly said quickly. "Now you go on and find something better to do than to bother us while we're working." She laughed as she shoved Sirius towards the door. "Ah Remus," she said when she noticed him standing in the doorway, blocking her shove of Sirius, "take your friend and find something better for him to do." And before he could say a word, Sirius was shoved into his arms and the door closed tightly behind them.

They heard Tonks and Molly laughing hysterically.

"I wish Bobo could have seen that," Tonks said in between breaths.

_Who's Bobo? _Remus thought to himself. _I'll have to remember to ask the girls later._

Remus and Sirius began to wander the house, bored out of their minds. But the two of them could always find something to do, even if it was just stirring up trouble. With that in mind, they located the invisibility cloak and snuck into a small living room where they knew Harry and Ginny were 'watching a movie'.

They then proceeded to throw things at them. Nothing drastic, just things like paperclips, paper balls, pillows……

Both Harry and Ginny thought each other was doing it and it led to some suggestive wrestling on the couch.

Which led to some frisky business.

Which led to Remus and Sirius fleeing the room.

XXXXX

They ran into Ron on the way down the hall. He was just waking up. The three of them decided to go check on the cake; it was beginning to smell wonderful.

The kitchen door was still locked.

XXXXX

Hermione found the three of them sitting dully in front of the locked door pouting.

She couldn't help but to laugh.

_Well I finished round one. Now it has to sit for 2 hours before I can proceed. _ Hermione said.

Just then, Harry and Ginny rounded the corner.

"MMm, what smells so good?" Ginny asked.

"Mum's chocolate cake," Ron replied, licking his lips.

They joined the group on the floor.

When the door finally opened, they all swarmed inside. Before Molly could say anything, everyone dug in to her delicious cake.

It was met with many enthusiastic compliments.

Molly and Tonks looked at each other nervously.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked.

"Well…. This cake wasn't meant for all of you; just for Sirius and Remus." Tonks paused. "The real cake is over there," she pointed to a small table in the corner.

Everyone had by this point slowed down their chewing, but still didn't stop.

"I can't believe I let you talk me in to this Tonks!"

"Well it was your sons' invention so…"

"Oh no…" Ginny said. "Did I just hear something about Fred and George's inventions?"

Now everyone began to panic.

But they were too late.

All of their faces began to turn to various, intense colors. Red, blue, orange, green, violet….

Molly and Tonks couldn't stop laughing. (But of course Molly was apologizing the entire time too.)

When they found out it would only last a couple of hours, everyone calmed down.

Harry, who was a deep shade of orange, said, "Do you know what you remind me of, Hermione?"

She was a nice shade of violet. She shook her head.

"_Violet, you're turning violet, Violet!" _was his simple reply. "We should all go watch it!"

She automatically knew what he meant.

She nodded her head in agreement, so they corralled everyone back into the living room to sit and watch "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

XXXXX

A/N: alright. Random chapter. But got some stuff out there, and tried to put a little more humor in it. Next chap hopefully up soon too, and please R&R!!!


	19. Failed Rescue

Disclaimer: I do not claim to be the owner or the creator of these characters or this world. I just play with the creations of JKR for the fun of it.

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Remus, Hermione, Sirius, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Tonks, and Molly were sitting in the living room watching "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," and they didn't notice when Albus entered the room. They were at the part of the movie where the giant chocolate bar was being shrunk and teleported into a television set. They were having a very interesting conversation pertaining to the movie.

"But I thought that muggles did not have a system of transportation anything like apparition…?" Ron asked doubtfully as Woka removed the candy bar from the television set.

"They don't; this is just a movie. You know… it's fiction." Harry tried to explain. Seeing that his friend was still confused, he kept talking. "You see, it's all digital; they didn't really make the candy bar do that. They used a computer to…"

"ShhH!!!" Tonks said. "Explain later; I hate when people talk during movies."

Nobody objected to her request; they all settled back down to watch the remainder of the movie.

Just then, Albus cleared his throat. All of the people in the room (who still had various colored faces,) turned in his direction. Albus was slightly taken aback, but soon regained his composure.

"I have just returned from an important meeting with Hagrid. It seems that somebody has taken it upon themselves to desecrate the Whomping Willow. It now has strange carvings all about its trunk, and its leaves are black." He paused to straighten the glasses on his nose. "We have no idea who did this, and it may have simply been an act of juvenile vandalism, but I thought that you all would want to know this little detail."

Remus and Sirius immediately shot each other "Marauder" looks. Hermione could hear Remus' thoughts and assumed that Sirius' were along the same lines. Remus was worried that anyone had been able to even get to up to the Whomping Willow (As far as they knew, only the Marauders and the Trio knew how to deactivate it,) and that there were carvings and black leaves, neither of which they had ever seen on the tree.

"Do you think that it means anything?" Remus pondered aloud.

"I'm not sure; I think that you and I should go investigate it, Moony." Sirius replied.

Remus nodded his head. "I completely agree. But the full moon is in a few days, so it will have to either be tonight, or it will have to wait."

The answer need not be spoken aloud; they both knew they would be visiting Hogwarts grounds that night.

Albus nodded his head in approval and turned to leave the room. At the door, he paused and turned back around. "Just one more thing. Be careful as you travel; moreso than usual. We believe that Voldemort has more followers than ever before, so every possible measure of caution should be taken."

Everyone nodded numbly. Dumbledore left the room, shutting the door behind him.

"What do you think that was about?" Ginny said suspiciously as she gave Harry a pointed look in the eye.

Harry noticed, bit his lip, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I guess we will find out tonight when we…"

"Wait a second there, little James." Sirius said. "You are not coming with us; none of you are. This will be a mission solely taken on by Remus and myself. You will stay here in the safety of the house."

Harry started to protest, but Ginny placed her arm on his shoulder gently. He gave in to her silent plea. "Alright, we'll stay here and housesit. But I expect full details when you come back."

"Of course." Remus said hurriedly. He then turned to Hermione. "Hermione, dear, my Wolfbane. Are you quite sure that you have everything you need for it? Once Sirius and I leave, I do not want you to have to leave this house for any reason."

At first Hermione glared at him, shooting him one of her "I'm quite capable of making my own decisions" glares. But then she sighed and thought to him _Yes, I have everything I need. Just be careful. I'll be sitting up waiting for you._

Remus looked very relieved. Now that the discussion was over, the group turned back to the movie in time to see it burst through the glass ceiling of the Wonka factory.

"Blimey, I didn't know they could make random things like elegators fly!" Ron exclaimed.

Ginny sighed in exasperation. "RoN, they're called eleVators, and Harry already explained that the muggles…"

"ShHHH!!"

XXXXX

The rest of the day passed along without much happening. Remus and Sirius decided to teach the teens some particularly useless but nonetheless entertaining spells from their Hogwarts days.

Around 4pm, Remus and Sirius decided it was time to venture to Hogwarts to investigate the Whomping Willow. Bundled up in coats and scarves, the two were escorted to the front door of Grimmauld Place by the entire household. The two of them promised to be careful, and the household in turn promised to behave until their return.

_I love you Mione, and I will see you tonight._

_I love you too._

XXXXXXXXXX

As the two men walked out the front door, a set of glasses framing pitch black eyes and perched atop an aged nose peered out of an upstairs window. As Remus and Sirius apparated, the owned of the glasses, the eyes, and the nose smirked and shut the curtain.

XXXXXXXXXX

Once outside of the house, Sirius and Remus apparated separately to Hogsmeade. They both arrived in front of Honeyduke's.

"What do you say? Shall we pop in for a trip down memory lane?" Sirius said playfully.

"I really could go for an acid pop…" Remus thought aloud.

So they entered the shop, stayed for half an hour, and emerged several Sickles poorer than when they had entered.

The two trudged up the path towards the Shrieking Shack. When they entered, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

They both had their wands drawn for light. As they proceeded up the path to the Whomping Willow, a rat scurried noisily across the floor.

When they crawled out from under the trunk of the tree, they noticed a change automatically. The tree did not start flailing about; and they had not turned it off.

They also noted the black leaves, even in the growing dusk. There was one more thing that they both noticed: the carvings on the tree were not random carvings. They were a cryptic language, one that only four people in the world knew, two of which were standing there in surprise with their mouths agape.

Sirius approached the trunk and ran his hands over the carvings. As he did this, the symbols began to glow. "This can't be, can it Remus?"

Remus was still standing stationary. "But, only the four of us knew this code. We didn't even use it very often! Only to share answers on our N.E.W.T.S."

"If we hadn't tried that 'add-this-to-any-incantation-and-remember-it-forever' thing that Wormtail found, I probably would not recognize it."

"I know, me either. So let's see, what does it say?"

I'm up too close to it, we need to back up to be able to see it all."

The two cautiously backed away from the tree, lest it decide to awaken.

The two men lit their wands in order to see the carvings better.

"Wait a second," Remus said slowly, "if only the four of us knew this code, and you and I are here and Prongs is…" he paused. "Then that means the only one who could do this is…"

"Wormtail." Sirius finished for him.

At that moment, they heard a loud pop behind them accompanied by a brilliant flash. They turned quickly, wands at the ready.

"It was about time the two of you figured it out," Peter Pettigrew said as he stepped towards them. "I was wondering how long I was going to have to sit here in my rat form before the opportune moment would come around to show myself."

"Why did you lure us here?" Remus snarled.

"Because it was easier to do than to lead the Potter here." He replied. At this comment, Sirius and Remus grew very defensive.

"Leave Harry alone, Wormtail." Sirius thundered as he pointed his wand at Peter's throat.

Peter cowered and put his hands in front of his face protectively. But to their surprise, he laughed. "SO you really haven't figured out how this is going to play out yet, have you? Let's just skip past the boring details and jump straight to the more… interesting scene, shall we?"

At that, 4 more 'pops' were heard accompanied by 4 bright flashes. Then 4 hooded Deatheaters approached, wands drawn. Peter stepped in their line.

Remus and Sirius immediately began to fire hexes in their direction, and may have succeeded in escaping, had it not been for 3 more Deatheaters apparating behind them.

They were surrounded, and they were seriously outnumbered.

"Now then," Peter said as Sirius and Remus were forced to their knees, "isn't this a great way to go?"

The two of them were then quickly put in full body binds and apparated away with the Deatheaters.

Peter stayed behind, however. He walked up to the Whomping Willow. He sighed heavily and bowed his head. A single tear ran down his cheek.

"Oh, I wish they would have had the time to read the message." He murmured to himself.

For when the message was translated, it read 'I'm sorry. Hurry, apparate away. This is a trap. -Wormtail.'

"Now I have all three of their blood on my hands." He mumbled as he glared at his hands in disgust. He took a last look up towards the castle, and then apparated away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Back at Grimmauld Place, Hermione, Ginny, Harry, and Ron were in the library. Hermione had fully recovered (except for her lost voice,) from her abduction and now was bound and determined to learn more about the Tear. Sirius' library was enormous, but that hadn't stopped her from divvying sections of it out between her friends with strict orders to search every book, cover to cover, for any useful information.

The teens were all bored; flipping innumerable pages in innumerable books was definitely a monotonous task. However, they were all highly motivated. The sense that they were running out of time had managed to spread throughout the entire house, so their searching was fueled by adrenaline.

Harry glanced up at Hermione. She was busily flipping through a rather large book. Suddenly, her head jerked up and she had a terribly worried look on her face.

"Mione, what's wrong?" he asked.

Tears were in her eyes. She quickly grabbed her chalkboard and chalk and scribbled

'They've been caught."

Just seconds later, the teens were running through the house filling everyone in and looking for Dumbledore. They found him at a desk in the sitting room, sealing an official looking envelope.

"Professor, Sirius and Remus have been captured." Ron said hurriedly.

Harry was watching Dumbledore's face carefully for some sign of hope. However, instead he saw something else entirely. It was only for a split second, a mere flicker of an emotion across his face, but it was there nonetheless. Harry saw what he could only classify as…smugness. It quickly passed and was replaced by a much more Dumbledore-life expression of gravity.

"Are we certain of this, Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded her head violently as she wiped tears away from her eyes.

"Well then, we will begin the rescue plans immediately. Thank you for relaying this information to me. And Hermione, if you are able to contact him, please let me know anything you discover."

Hermione again nodded and was guided out of the room.

Harry sensed danger. Not just the obvious things which included Voldemort's return, his friends being captured, and a powerful key to victory in the final battle residing around one of his best friends' neck who had no idea what to do with it. He sensed that there was something going on with Dumbledore. He swore to himself that he would figure it out, and soon.

A/N: Well it's summer break now, and with the new movie and final book coming out next month, I am currently re-reading the first 6 books to be up on my HP history. Consequently, I'm in a huge HP kick. Which MEANS I will be writing a lot now. I really hope to have everything wrapped up before Deathly Hollows comes out, and I would say I'm about 75 of the way finished with this story. SO, be looking out for many updates, and frequently!


	20. Overlooked and Unnoticed

The next couple of days were a complete blur. The entire household had been put on various levels of investigation; even Hedwig had her plate full what with flying messages and searching scouring the country for some signs of their missing friends. Hermione busied herself with finishing up the brew of Wolfsbane because the full moon was that night. She also frequently tried to contact Remus.

The first time she succeeded was indeed the night of the full moon, as she was doing some last minute counter-clockwise stirring.

_Remus, darling, are you ok? Can you hear me?_

She bit her lower lip unconsciously as she awaited a reply. However, her hopes were not very high since she had been trying for the past two days to contact him. However, this time was different.

_Hermione, yes, I can hear you, but will only be able to for a few moments. I am alive, as is Sirius. But we have been caught. Dumbledore is here with us. We were captured, lured by Wormtail. Voldemort is keeping us under close surveillance; he knows that you and I can communicate like this. But the guard thinks we are asleep and has taken a quick break. He is a __Legilimens, so he would be able to sense if I tried to contact you in his presence. I'm running out of time. I will try to contact you again as soon as possible to let you know we are alive. Darling, be careful. I have no idea what Voldemort's next plans are, but he definitely has plans. I love you, and always will, no matter what happens now._

_I love you too, and please, please be careful._

Throughout this short dialogue, Hermione's necklace has been glowing a bright white. When it ended, it faded back to it's dull constant glow.

Tears were once again falling as Hermione bounded up the cellar stairs and as she burst into the library where Harry, Ron, and Ginny were still scouring books.

At the sight of her tears, they immedietly jumped up, worried expressions on their faces. However, when they saw she was smiling as she scirbbled away on her chalk board, they relaxed. She told them what Remus had said almost word for word. They all looked relieved as well to hear that their friends were still alive, though captured by Voldemort.

But Harry was the first to notice something horribly wrong with something Remus had said.

"Hang on, did he say that Dumbledore was with him?"

All of the teens looked around at each other with terrified faces.

Ginny looked especially perplexed. "But, that doesn't make any sense. Dumbledore is on Voldemort's side, and…"

"What do you mean Dumbledore is on the dark side?" Ron looked at her like she was crazy.

"Well," she began, "the other night as I was walking past Dumbledore's room, I heard talking. So I stopped to listen. I heard Tonks and Dumbledore talking about giving Harry to You-Know-Who!"

"Are you sure it was Tonks and Dumbledore?" Harry pushed.

"Yes, of course, there's no mistaking Tonk's voice. Or Dumbledore's for that matter. She called him BoBo though, I wonder what that is about..."

Hermione had the feeling that she had heard that name somewhere before, but she couldn't place it at the moment. So she tucked it away in her mind for further analysis later.

"But I just saw Dumbledore early this morning," Ron said. "He was talking to Mum on the stairs."

Hermione's brow was furrowed. How could Dumbledore be here and trapped in a cell with Remus and Sirius at the same time?

"Maybe Remus was delusional and just thought that Dumbledore was there…" Harry offered.

"Or maybe there really is some old guy there that they have pretending to be Dumbledore just to throw Remus and Sirius off their rockers." Ron suggested.

"Or maybe," Ginny interjected, "Dumbledore really IS there. Maybe he messed up something that Voldemort had him working on, and he is being punished too."

At that, they all jumped up and began running around the house looking for Dumbledore.

They couldn't find him anywhere. But they did run into Molly in the kitchen.

Ginny quickly fleshed out the story for her mother and then asked if she knew where Dumbledore was. Molly looked very confused, but told them "Albus left early this morning. He said he had some errands to run before he returned to Hogwarts. I believe he said he would be there in the next day or two." She paused. "As for the lot of you, you will be returning to Hogwarts first thing tomorrow morning."

So it was with glum expressions that the for students marched out of the kitchen. Hermione pulled her board out. She wrote:

"This all makes sense. If Dumbledore was really working for Voldemort, he did something that made him mad, left the building on the pretense of 'running errands', met up with Voldemort, and then got thrown in a cell with Remus and Sirius."

They all nodded their heads silently. Hermione continued to write.

"So when we return to Hogwarts, Dumbledore will not be there. We will have to be extra careful and work all the harder to figure out how to beat Voldemort. Without Dumbledore…"

She let the last sentence hang. Everybody knew what it meant, but nobody wanted to say it.

Things were looking terribly grim for the residents of Grimmauld Place.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Remus, Sirius, and Dumbledore were laying in a dingy cell with nothing at all to do. Their wands had obviously been confiscated and they weren't allowed to talk. At least, they weren't allowed to get caught talking.

Sirius and Remus learned a lot. They learned that Dumbledore, (The REAL Albus Dumbledore,) had been kidnapped by Snape and Tonks. He had been brought here and tortured, but obviously not killed. The only reason he himself could figure out for Voldemort to keep him alive was to use him as some human pawn against Harry. This theory made sense to Sirius and Remus. They also were quick-witted enough to realize that the 'Dumbledore' back at Grimmauld was an imposter, and obviously one who was working for Voldemort.

"Ah, yes." Dumbledore said. "I do recall Severus cutting a lock of my hair off. I suppose that means that he or someone else is parading around as me using a Polyjuice potion."

"But Polyjuice takes upwards of a month to make." Sirius pointed out.

"Which means that this has been being planned for quite a while, and that enough has been and is currently still being brewed to ensure the ruse is continued." Remus replied hurriedly. "And if anyone is capable of that, it would be Severus Snape."

The three of them stopped talking as their guard opened the door to threaten to beat them if they continued to speak. As the door was shut again, they looked at each other with eyes full of fear, realization, and absolutely devoid of hope.

XXXXXXXXXX

The next morning and Grimauld dawned cold and grey. The students were rushed by Molly to gather their belongings and to meet by the front door. Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione did as they were asked, but all with very grim expressions. As a last minute thought, Hermione rushed down to the cellar and gathered the Wolfsbane she had prepared in multiple viles. She also gathered the remaining supplies of said potion into individual containers. All of this she put into a brown leather satchel which she slung over her shoulders. She met her friends by the stairs and then struggled to move her trunk outside with them.

"Now, we will send you things to Hogwarts right after you leave." Arthur Weasly said. "Don't bother looking for them; they will be sent directly to your bedrooms after Mr. Filch checks them."

So they grouped their luggage in one big pile and then headed out the front door to apparate to the gates of Hogwarts. Hermione had chosen to discreetly keep the leather satchel on her body rather than let it go through Filch's inspection, just to be safe.

As the adults all waved goodbye to them, Hermione caught Tonks' eye. She couldn't speak, but if looks could kill…

Tonks noticed the glare Hermione was sending her way. She tried to play it off and smiled, but she was definitely unnerved by it. _I wonder if she knows anything…_ Tonks wondered to herself.

Remembering that she wasn't licensed to apparate, Hermione pulled on Harry's sleeve. He remembered as soon as he saw the look on her face, and easily apparated them both to the gates. Ginny and Ron followed soon after. The four of them began the hike up to Hogwarts, each lost in their own silent trains of thought.

XXXXXXXXXX

Upon reaching the castle, Ginny blurted, "Who's going to be in charge now that Dumbledore is gone?" A question that they had all been wondering.

"I'm guessing McGonagall," Harry said slowly.

Hermione suddenly perked up. She had an idea. So when they got to the commonroom, she pulled out her chalkboard.

"Harry, you know Legilimency and Occlumency, right? Well, why don't you use it on McGonagall and the other teachers to see if they know anything they're not telling us?"

"Alright, I can give it a try." Harry said uncertainly. "But I think that whatever we find out by doing it, we already know."

When they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, Ginny mumbled the password (fire-whizzer) and they climbed inside. They found their belongings exactly where they should be. When Hermione approached the painting to her personal chamber, however, she noticed something different.

Previously, the painting showed the Hogwarts castle at night. A blonde man and brunette woman ran towards each other, fell into an embrace, and then a brilliant white glow surrounded them. Then the cycle began again.

Now, however, there was an additional act. When the man ran towards the woman at the edge of the forest, he did it differently. It was almost… like a hunt. Then, the man morphed into a canine in mid-run. When he got near the girl, instead of greeting him, the girl now backed against a large rock, and seeing that she had nowhere else to go, she cowered against it. The beast pounced… and then the brilliant flash occurred, starting the painting's story all over again.

Hermione shivered. She understood who the characters were, and she couldn't help but wonder why the story had changed.

She entered her chamber, and was relieved to see that everything was in order. She plopped down on her couch, and meant only to rest her eyes. But she quickly dozed off. She was awakened by the sound of her friends pounding on her portrait, calling her name. She groggily got up, but not before she hid her brown satchel of Wolfsbane and ingredients in a closet under an old umbrella and coat. She didn't know why, but she felt that she should keep an eye on these things.

When she exited her room, she found her friends siting around in the Gryffindor commonroom. They hurried down to the Great Hall to eat; it was still predominately empty.

After dinner, they made their way toward the library. Hermione had been granted unlimited access to the restricted section of the library by Madame Pince, due to her frequent inhabitance of said area anyway. They checked out many books that looked promising in their quest for finding information about the Tear. They carried them all back up to their commonroom, but quickly decided that Hermione's rooms were the best place to keep them all.

Hermione was anxious to begin research, but she noticed the boys, (and Ginny for that matter,) glancing yearningly out the window. It WAS a beautiful day, and she was sure they would all rather be out flying. She wrote this thought on her board, and they denied it, but weakly. So, she decided that she could spare them for an hour to let them relax. She of course, would stay in her room researching.

They all hugged her and promised to be back in an hour or less, and she believed them. Harry looked worried and guilty about leaving her searching alone, and he offered multiple times to stay behind with her. But she insisted he go with the Weaslys. And he ended up doing so; you couldn't win an argument with Hermione even when she couldn't speak!

When they left her room, Hermions sighed, plopped down on the ground and closed her eyes. She was ridiculously frustrated, exhausted, worried, scared, and swamped. She was twirling a quill between her fingers, but she threw it across the room in annoyance. Why could she not find anything at all about the stupid Tear of Artimpassa? With her determination still strong, she crawled across the floor to retrieve her thrown quill. She looked up, and suddenly realized something. She had a very large set of bookshelves right there in her rooms that she had never even looked through!

With a glance around as if to see if there were anyone watching who could think lowly of her for this act, she decided to spend a few minutes looking at her collection. There was every genre, both wizard and muggle. Many of them looked very interesting, and she made mental notes to return to them as soon as she could. She was almost finished with her quick sweep of the shelves when she noticed a particularly old looking one. She slowly pulled it off of the shelf. Engraved on the front in loopy silver was the title: _Divine Blessings and Curses. _

Her heart was pounding wildly as she opened to the table of contents. Her eyes grew wide, and she silently exclaimed, "This is it!"

XXXXXXXXXX

At that very moment Ron and Ginny were flying around the Quidditch pitch. Harry had already left the pitch to come back to the castle to help Hermione. He had just come inside and was walking by an empty classroom that was only a few feet from the front door. He noticed something gleaming on the ground in the doorway of the room, so he stepped over to see what it was. Right then, the front door opened again and someone came inside. Harry instinctively ducked into the classroom. From his position, he could see but not be seen.

"Hello, Professor Dumbledore!" a small first year girl from Hufflepuff said shyly.

"Hello Patricia," the man at the door cooed. "I trust your Christmas break has been a good one?"

"Oh yes sir!"

"Very good. Perhaps you should hurry along to your commonroom. I believe your friends are looking for you."

Patricia scurried away with a look of awe still on her face.

The old man in the doorway rolled his cold black eyes as soon as the child had gone. When he saw Minerva approaching him, his eyes suddenly changed to a shocking light blue.

Harry saw all of this. His suspicions were confirmed.

XXXXXXXXXX

A/N: well, here's 20. Hope you like it. Oh and I'm really sorry about any typos! I'm writing these quickly, I'm really anxious/excited.


	21. To Corazon?

A/N: Only the plot's mine, as always.

As Hermione's eyes flew over the pages, she immediately began trying to contact Remus. She knew she shouldn't; he said it would be dangerous. But she had to let him know that they were close to solving this, and that meant they were close to rescuing him and the others.

_Remus, I…_

But as Hermione closed her eyes and began to try to speak to him, she felt herself falling… falling through the dark. Her descent didn't stop, but now it wasn't just a dark void. She was seeing flashes of things; flashes of Remus' memories, she deduced.

Remus was 9, swinging on a tire swing, and there was a large dog approaching him from behind….

Remus was 11, and meeting James, Sirius, and Peter on the Hogwarts Express.

Remus was 14 and being helped to the Shrieking Shack on a night with a full moon.

Remus was 15 and holding a shiny new prefect's badge.

The falling sped up and Hermione could not tell what was going on for quite a few seconds. Then…

Remus was staring at Hermione at Grimmauld Place.

Remus was standing in the kitchen with Molly and Tonks.

_"I wish Bobo could have seen that," Tonks said in between breaths._

_"Who's Bobo? _Remus thought to himself._ I'll have to remember to ask the girls later…"_ Remus' thought voice echoed loudly.

Then Remus was holding Hermione, they were kissing, and…

Quite as suddenly as she had begun this falling sensation, she stopped and found herself back in her own room. She shook her head, and tried once again to contact Remus, but could not get any response.

Just then, she heard a knocking on her entrance painting.

XXXXXXXXXX

Harry had rushed back up the many flights of stairs towards Gryffindor tower. He hurriedly breathed the password, and the Fat Lady, who had been dozing, swung her portrait open with a grimace. There were a few curious faces turned in Harry's direction as he hurdled books, pillows, and even two first-years lying in the floor playing Exploding Snap, but he did not care. He went to Hermione's portrait and banged on it unceremoniously. When she didn't respond, he decided to let himself in. He muttered "Moony," and climbed in.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hermione was surprised to see Harry burst into her room. She had in fact been on her way to open the door when he decided to enter on his own.

"Hermione," Harry panted, "I think…I think that someone is pretending to be Dumbledore."

Hermione was standing with her hands on her hips and giving him a skeptical look, but all of a sudden, a light bulb went off in her head.

_Bobo… that's what Ginny heard Tonks calling Dumbledore that night at Sirius' house… But that's also what Remus heard Tonks referring to Snape as in the kitchen when she was talking to Molly!_

She pulled Harry toward the couch. At the same time she had her wand drawn and was silently saying "_Accio parchment" _and_ "Accio quill." _The objects flew to her quickly. She scribbled down the details of the experience she had just had, and the connection she had just drawn.

By the time Harry got to the bottom of the parchment, his eyes were burning and beginning to water. But when he looked up, they shared a look of excitement at having figured this much out.

"This all fits, Mione! Remus said that Dumbledore was there with him and Sirius, but at the same time, we have a 'Dumbledore' running around here too. And isn't it strange that Snape just so happened to disappear at about the same time? AND now that I think about it, I am positive that I saw this fake Dumbledore have… well, sinister black eyes, just like Snape's, but he changed them when he thought nobody was looking. Do you think he's using Polyjuice?"

Hermione nodded quickly.

"And this falling sensation and seeing all of these flashes of Remus' memories… well, it sounds a bit like Legimens to me, doesn't it to you?"

Hermione was for once taken aback; she had yet to think of it that way. She hastily scribbled, "_IS that what it's like? You've accidentally done it to Snape before and all…"_

"Yeah, it sounds about right. The only thing I don't get is that usually with Legimency, you have to have eye contact." He paused, and then glanced at Hermione's glowing necklace. "But maybe that thing made it possible."

At the mention of her necklace, Hermione's head jerked up and her eyes clearly said _"OH, how have I forgotten!" _and she reached onto the ground to pick up the book entitled "Divine Blessing and Curses," that she had recently discovered on her very own bookshelf.

Harry was perched on the edge of the couch watching Hermione thumb through the pages. With a smile on her face, Hermione carefully handed the ancient, tattered book to Harry and gestured for him to read the indicated passage aloud.

"Artimpassa," he began, "is known as the Scythian goddess of both the moon and of love. The most commonly circulated legend concerning this deity is that she fell in love with a mortal. The mortal died in a tragic accident, and she shed a single tear in grievance for him. From that point onward, she became very bitter towards mortals, specifically mortals who went out of their way to harm others. The tear that she shed is a mythical object that has been searched for for thousands of years. One wizard claimed to have found it in the late 1100's in a ravine in the jungles of South America. He described it as being roughly the size of an acorn, and having a pearly iridescent color, which matches the assumed characteristics that the object would posses. Unfortunately, the wizard was attacked in the middle of the night, and when he regained consciousness, the Tear was gone.

"In researching deities, it is important to note that many are known by different names around the world. While it is very difficult to prove which deities are in fact known by other names, it is not impossible. In fact, there have been documents dating back to the 500's discovered in South America linking the Scythian Artimpassa to the South American Auchimalgen, the moon goddess and the protectress from evil. The documents (rumored to have been scribed by the goddess herself,) suggest that Artimpassa chose to be called Auchimagen after the death of her lover; she wanted to be in essence 'reborn' and no longer to be known as a goddess of love, but as a protectress from evil. (The original documents are under protection, for further information concerning their whereabouts, please owl Fernandez Biezo.) However, she could not give up her ties to the moon, being that it was the direct provider of her power. And while she openly wanted nothing to do with love anymore, the tale is that she secretly would dwell on her lover's memory, and thus she never really gave up on love. She had turned the tear into a pearly stone, and endearingly kept it with her at all times. At night, the stone was rumored to glow in reaction with moonlight. However, in the early 900's, a massive war broke out in the muggle world. She became so enraged and was reminded so horridly of her lover's death, that she once again resolved to focus on protecting the innocent rather than dwell on love. She supposedly cast the stone away, and as far as it is known, she left the world, never to come back.

"This brings us back to the discovery of the stone by un unnamed wizard in the late 1100's. His discovery of it in South America only strengthened the assumptions that Artimpassa and Auchimalgen were the same being; not only is there documentation, but the actual local of the Tear suggested it.

"The belief is that the Tear contains powers of all aspects of this deity. The moon, love, and protection are all believed to dwell within it. The combination of all three of this goddess' powers in one object would make it one of the most powerful objects known to humanity."

Harry looked up, excitement evident on his face. "Do you know what I think this means?"

Hermione nodded with a slight smirk on her face.

"A trip to visit this Fernandez Biezo seems to be in order."

Hermione again nodded, but then they both seemed to realize that they had no idea where he was, or if he was even still alive.

They sat in silent contemplation for a few moments, but then Harry's head snapped up, success gleaming in his eyes. "I know what we can do! We can use the Marauder's map to find him!"

Hermione gave him a look that was soaked with "I seriously doubt he is in this school."

Harry shook his head as he stood up and headed for the door. "No, the map has other features that even Fred and George didn't know about. Remus showed us," he paused at the door, "it's how we found you that night…" again he paused, and then threw her a typical 'Harry Potter' grin. "I'm going to go get the map and get Ron; we'll be right back."

The bond between these two teens had always been strong, but in that moment, it seemed to positively fill the room. Harry hurriedly left the room, leaving Hermione to her own thoughts. She tried to contact Remus. She did not get any response, but then again she wasn't expecting it.

Instead, she stood up and walked to a mirror hanging on the wall. She pulled the necklace out from underneath her shirt and studied the reflection of herself and the Tear.

It was still red, as it had been ever since she and Remus had…

Even in the solitude of her rooms a blush tinted her cheeks.

It was still glowing, and swirling, and looking altogether… powerful. She puzzled the discoveries of the past hour in her mind.

_This stone, moon, love, protection. Very powerful. Moonlight, obvious connection, love, obvious connection, protection, again obvious… but there's something else. We're missing something, something simple. Let's take each branch of its magic into consideration. Moonlight is Artimpassa's power provider. So it makes sense that it reacts to moonlight. Also, the fact that Remus is a werewolf ties the whole moon element to him, and therefore to me, all the more. Protection… Dumbledore told me when he gave it to me that it would protect me when necessary and the Tear is instilled with Artimpassa's desire to protect the innocent from those who would harm them. Love… well obviously Remus and I are in love, and she was once the goddess of love, and this tear was shed as a result of a lost love…_

Just then, Hermione had an epiphany. Love. "The power that the Dark Lord has not." The reason Hermione and Remus were essential to Harry's ability to defeat Voldemort. When Dumbledore went on and on about Harry having love, this is what he was talking about; Harry had a goddess' power on his side! But how to use it…

_All the more reason to hurry up and find this Fernandez. _Hermione thought.

Ron and Harry appeared a few seconds later, interrupting her train of thought. She quickly wrote what she had just figured out.

Harry looked surprised. "Well, I suppose that makes more sense than just love itself…"

Hermione wrote that she believed it was a combination of just love itself and the Tear's love power. _I mean, there has to be real love involved in order to use its power, wouldn't you think? _

Meanwhile, Ron had opened the map. He tapped the right spot and the search for Fernandez Biezo began. The map 'scrolled' around the world for a bit, before zooming in on a little town called Corazon in South America.

"To Corazon then?" He asked.

"To Corazon." Harry affirmed.

The three of them stood and began making preparations for their trip.

They decided that they had to tell somebody where they were going; to not do so would be foolish. So decided that the only person to tell would be McGonagall.

They hurried to her office and knocked on the door. A rustling of papers was heard just before a very stern "Come in," was said.

The three of them entered her office with a bit of apprehension. McGongall, no matter that she was their Head of House and a trusted member of the Order, was an intimidating figure. Harry took the initiative and began to sketch out what they knew, all the way from the beginning, including the fact that Snape was pretending to be Dumbledore. When Harry would grow tired of talking, Ron would take up the explanations. Hermione stood to the side, giving her Professor assuring looks that this was the absolute truth whenever she glanced her way.

McGonagall momentarily looked distraught. However, she quickly regained composure. "Are you quite certain of this?"

When all three of them nodded vigorously, she exhaled heavily. "Well then, I suppose you three better hurry and find out whatever you can from this man in Corazon." She paused. "I'll have to make up an excuse for Severus as to your whereabouts…"

"But Professor, he can read your mind! What if…" Ron said worriedly.

She gave him a bemused look. "Mr. Weasley, do you honestly think that I am unable to defend myself against such things?" she chuckled softly, but only for a second. "I really do need to alert the rest of the Order about this. If Albus, Remus, and Sirius are all really being held captive, and If Severus and Tonks are really spies…"

"But that's just the reason that you can't tell the rest of the Order!" Harry exclaimed a bit loudly, resulting in some of the paintings muttering about the unruly youth of the day. "There is no way to inform the others without Tonks catching wind of it. If Tonks knows, she'll alert Snape that we're on to them, and then…"

"Yes, yes, you are right of course. I don't know where my head was." She paused and looked each one of them in the eyes. "Our success lies in our ability to act. As long as we act as if we do not know what is going on, we still have as much of a chance as ever. So, you three hurry to Corazon, find this man, and find out whatever you can. I will stay here and keep things under check. Be careful, and hurry back, that is an order."

The teens were already wearing their heavy cloaks, and each had their wand in hand. The Marauder's map was tucked in Ron's pocket and the Invisibility Cloak was tucked in Harry's. They walked quickly out of the castle, careful to avoid Filch, ghosts, and most importantly, Snape.

Once outside, they sprinted to the gates.

"So, we're going to apparate to Corazon. Hermione, you can apparate alongside me." Harry said quickly.

Ron nodded; he wasn't very keen on the idea of being responsible for safely apparting other people.

They all three looked at once another. Each face, so very different, but each etched with determination.

"Let's get cracking then." Ron said as he disapparted with a 'pop.'

"Right," Harry whispered under his breath. Hermione took his arm, and they too dispparted with a 'pop.'


	22. Connecting the Dots II

Disclaimer: Only plot is mine!

As she landed beside Harry in Corazon, Hermione couldn't help but feel that that had accidentally apparated to Hogsmeade. But that was only her initial impression. As she quickly took in her surroundings, the differences began to stand out more than the similarities. It was true that architecturally the village was constructed similarly; narrow roads, small buildings, nothing with more than 3 or 4 stories. But in contrast to Hogsmeade, Hermione had the distinct impression that this was a muggle village, and the fact that they had just appeared out of thin air was responsible for several stares and terrified expressions on peoples' faces. Which led to the next discovery: this was definitely a Spanish speaking town. Hermione had expected as much, but as she heard whispers of "¡que satanicos…" (How satanic,) and "¡malhechores…" (Evildoers,) her hypothesis was definitely confirmed.

Harry and Ron had obviously figured out what was going on too, because they were both looking around for a place to get away from the limelight. Harry spotted an alley about 100 feet away. They scurried over to it before talking to each other.

"Bloody hell, I can't understand a word they're saying!" Ron moaned, "How are we ever going to find this Fernandez Biezo bloke if we can't speak to these people?"

Harry sighed heavily. "Well, I took a year of Spanish during my last year of school back with the Dursley's… So I can try to pull up some old stuff. But it's been so long, and they don't exactly teach you how to say 'we need to kind Fernandez Biezo because he has some old documents that might help us win the biggest war ever seen in the wizzarding world.' Hey Mione, have you ever studied Spanish?"

Hermione bit her lower lip. She had in fact taken a few years of Spanish, but she couldn't speak obviously. She wrote it out to the boys.

"Well then you can just write what we need to say, and we'll say it. Problem solved!" Ron said happily.

Harry asked Ron for the Map. They all gathered around it as it readjusted itself to their current location. They scoured the map for Fernandez Biezo, and after a few moments that found his name. It appeared that he was on the other side of town from them. Not a terribly far distance, but crossing town would mean reemerging into the busy streets, something they weren't very keen on doing. But they did anyway.

"At least it's day here right now." Harry pointed out. "If it were night, he would probably be asleep."

Hermione nodded in agreement, while Ron looked up at the sky as if just noticing that it was in fact day time.

XXXXXXXXXX

The three students arrived at the front door of a small, yet comfortable looking house on the edge of town. It was only one story high, but its beige stucco walls, red shutters, and small array of flowers in various pots on the porch gave it a very put together look. They walked up the four steps onto the porch and knocked on the door.

A little old lady opened the door almost immediately. She had gloves in one hand and a watering can in the other, so Hermione suspected she was about to water the plants outside when they arrived. She was at least a head shorter than all three of them, and she had to squint up into the sun to see their faces. But when she did, her eyes grew wide and a look of horror crossed her face. "¡Los demonios!" (The demons!) She shouted as she hurried back into the house, never turning her back, and crossing herself multiple times.

She slammed and bolted the door. They could hear her in the house yelling, "Fernandez! Los demonios estan aqui!" (Fernandez, the demons are here!) As she peeked through a curtained window, Hermione, Harry, and Ron looked around at each other helplessly. Hermione had already pulled out her marker board but had forgotten about it in watching the woman's reaction.

"Well, I guess the news of our apparition traveled fast." Harry mumbled.

Just then, they heard a man's voice yelling over the woman's. "Esta loco, mi abuela! No estan nada demonios a la casa o en la ciudad." (You're crazy, grandmother. There aren't any demons at the house or in the city.) But to humor the woman, the man came and opened the front door.

He looked startled to see the three of them standing there, but it didn't seem to convince him any more that they were in fact demons. He opened the screen door slowly, with a questioning look on his face.

Hermione frantically scribbled on her marker board. Harry read out loud first in a heavy English accent.

"Hola. Estamos Harry, Hermione, y Ron." (Hello, we're Harry, Hermione, and Ron.) And pointed to each of them in turn.

Ron was next. "Necesitamos hablar con Fernandez Biezo." (We need to speak with Fernandez Biezo.) Ron, having never studied Spanish at all, had an even heavier English way of pronouncing things, causing the man standing in the doorway to laugh a bit before covering it up like it was a cough.

_He's not bad looking. _Hermione found herself thinking. _In fact, he's very GOOD looking. _

Because indeed, the man could only be in his late teens or early twenties. He had tawny brown skin, and hair black as charcoal that almost brushed his shoulders. A finely chiseled face held big eyes that were probably brown, but looked black. He had lean muscles that were very noticeable in the white t-shirt and blue jean shorts he was wearing. Hermione had to remind herself that she A) had a boyfriend and B) was acting as translator and thus should be paying attention.

He looked like he was about to say something, when a small "squeak" was heard. They all looked towards the window, which was now lifted barely an inch. Apparently, the man's grandmother wanted to listen to the conversation. They all laughed, and the uneasy silence was broken.

Hermione was beginning to try to write something else, when the man spoke. "I do speak English, you know." He said with a wry smile.

The trio stared at him, all quite taken aback. "But then why did you let us keep trying to speak Spanish?" Harry asked, never one to hold his temper very well.

The boy's grin grew even larger. "Because, it was funny, chico. That's all. Well then Hermione, Harry, and Ron, what is it you need?"

"Are you…" Ron began testily.

"Oh yes, forgive me. I am Fernandez Biezo. Why don't you three come inside and we can discuss whatever it is that needs to be discussed?"

Hermione, though captivated by this young man's smile, had something nipping at her subconscious. It came to mind, and she hastily scribbled her question as they were walking into the living room, (much to Abuela's terror.)

Fernandez explained to her that they were nothing to be afraid of, and only succeeded in getting her to leave the room when he resorted to whining. She left, and Fernandez sat in a chair across from where his guests were seated on a comfortable couch.

Harry began to explain that they had read in a book that they needed to contact Fernandez Biezo concerning the documents about Artimpassa. He said all of this carefully; he wanted to judge Fernandez's reaction to this question. As he expected, the boy grew slightly paler.

Hermione took this opportunity to show his her board, which said, "The book was published hundreds of years ago, so I was expecting to be talking to an old man."

He nodded slowly before he spoke. "Then you three must be…" he gulped and then whispered "_witches_."

Both Harry and Ron puffed up at that; they were quick to point out the difference between witches and wizards.

Hermione was watching Fernandez. He looked like he was going to be sick. _But in such a cute, innocent way… I just want to pull his hair back out of his way, maybe get that shirt off, he would surely be burning up if he were to get sick in this stuffy room… _

She snapped back to reality when he began to talk.

"There was only one copy of that book you are talking about supposedly published. When my grandfather was on his death bed, he called me in to talk about it. He said that the stories I had head about Artimpassa as a child were true, that the legendary documents were real. He even said that they had always been in our family, starting with HIS grandfather. Abuelo said that his grandfather was the chieftain of the village Artimpassa liked to frequent, and that he also had magical powers." He laughed then. "I thought he was just delirious, but then he told me where to find them. He said that only somebody in our family would be able to get through the seal they were under to get them out. I decided to check it out, just to see, you know? Of all places, do you know where he kept them? In our attic!" Again, he paused to laugh, a far away look in his eyes. "They were in a red box that I know I'd never seen before in all the years I'd played in the attic. I fetched it and brought it back down to him, only to find he had died in the moment I was gone. But there was a note laying in his hand, addressed to me. He explained that the only person able to see the box would be the only Fernandez Bierto alive. That I must be the protector of the documents. And that I must name my first born son likewise. I had always thought that every male up my family line was named 'Fernandez Bierto' as a tradition; I just didn't realize how important it was! His letter went on to say that one day the documents may become very important, and that magical people would come looking for them. He said that the men in our family were part veelo… I don't know what that is though…."

_Of course! He's part veelo. That's why I'm so drawn to him… _Hermione realized.

Harry and Ron interrupted him and began to tell him the abridged version of their whole story concerning the Tear. They had to take time to explain some things though that they assumed everybody knew, but when they noticed the puzzled expression on Fernandez's face, they realized that they were only common facts in the wizarding world. It took quite a while, and by the time they had finished, the sun was slowing beginning to sink.

"So, that means, Hermione, do you have the… the actual Tear of Artimpassa with you right now?" he asked reverently.

Hermione nodded and pulled out her necklace. It was glowing a fiery red, and the diamonds clustered around it reflected its warmth. Fernandez's eyes grew exponentially. He stared at it, and then he looked at each of their faces, as if begging them to spare him the humility of it being a joke and just tell him then. But when none of them made a motion to say it was a joke, he ran his hands frantically through his hair. "Hold on. Let me… let me go get the box, ok?"

He hurried though the door that he'd pushed la Abuela through hours earlier. They were pretty sure they heard her asking her grandson what was going on, but he didn't answer her at all. He was back momentarily with a box covered in red velvet and about the size of the average box containing Quidditch balls. As he came closer to Hermione, the box began to vibrate.

He dropped it hurriedly at her feet.

Then, kneeling down, he began to unfasten the locks on it. Partially because the box was vibrating, and partially because his hands were shaking terribly, it took him a couple of tries to open it. But when he succeeded, the room was filled with a vibrant yellow light.

All four of them were gathered around the box at this point. Fernandez tried to reach in and pick up the documents, but drew his hand back with a frown. It was as if there was an invisible barrier there that he could not penetrate.

But Hermione tried, and it let her through. She picked up the papers one at a time. Each looked very fragile despite their yellow luminescence. _These almost look like journal entries! _She thought excitedly. And she was right. They were written from Artimpassa's point of view, and they were full of angst, sorrow, and lost love. As she read them each carefully, she could feel the stone around her neck pulsing.

A particularly enlightening one concerning the death of her lover said:

"…Your own brother, though not by blood, was the one to soil his hands with your blood? Your wife's own brother! I know that you loved me, and I loved you, but he could not understand out affair. When he stumbled upon us that fateful night, all he saw was his sister's husband with another woman, and he struck out. He did not stop to think, did not take into consideration the lonely nights he rested his head in another woman's bed besides his own wife's, didn't think about how your death would impact your wife and your children! He acted rashly, oh my love, I should have been able to protect you, but I couldn't… I couldn't… It was my fault, I cried out when I saw him, he would never have known we were there had it not been for my stupid mouth! I'm sorry… my love I am so sorry…"

The last memoir entry was the actual night Artimpassa decided to be known from there on out as Auchimalgen.

"…Look at these fools, blundering around, killing each other, and for what? What are they accomplishing? With each person they kill, they are destroying so many more loved ones' lives. Love. I don't, I can't, I Will no longer be associated with that… that horrid word. The obsession, the helplessness, and the pain that it causes are not justifiable. Oh Ranimious, Ranimious, my darling Ranimious Lupin….. How could they have killed you for what you are? How could they not see past what you would become once a month? If only they'd looked into your eyes as I had… But no. No more! I no longer shall dwell on love. I cast away this stone now as a symbol of my intentions. From here on out, I will be known as Auchimalgen. The moon is my queen, but no longer will I be a slave to love. I will protect the innocent, and make enemies with evil…."

Hermione skimmed the next couple lines but they contained nothing important. She began to think excitedly.

_Ranimious Lupin?... What he would become once a month… Is it possible, could Artimpassa's lover be an ancestor of Remus? I know he doesn't think anyone in his family was a werewolf, but it's very possible, indeed likely that he doesn't know anything about his ancestors of a thousand years ago! _

Just then, all of the pages began to fly about the room, even though there was no wind. All three boys leapt back, but Hermione felt compelled to go forward… forward towards the swirl of papers in the middle of the room, towards the increasingly brilliant light. The pages had all turned themselves upside down and lay on the floor side by side. Hermione felt herself sink to her knees. Her necklace floated as if she were underwater, though it was still around her neck. Her heart was pulsing in rhythm with the stone. The red had always been akin to ruby, to fire, but now it was a deep blood red. She slowly reached up to touch the Tear. The result was that a beam of pure white light shot through the air and towards the pages. The combination of the red, yellow, and white glows was blinding to the normal eye, but to Hermione, they were enchanting and invigorating. Her eyes followed the beam of white light to the pages. She gasped.

For there, across the backs of the pages, written in perfect, white, and unmistakable script, was something written by Artimpassa.

"Yes, I am turning away from love. But… I must do at least this. In remembrance of what we had, and what we lost. I have placed a charm on the stone, making it difficult to find and absolutely impossible for anyone but my descendant to use. Ahh… our daughter, Saladrona. You never were able to know your father. I left you with a kind mortal family; it was the only thing I could do, you must understand! Because your father was mortal, you would be too. You would not be able to live the life of a goddess, and you would never be happy knowing that I had cursed you to a mortal life.

In memory of Ranimious, and in memory of Saladrona, I leave all traces of my powers of love herein this stone. The only way to access its power is if our bloodlines once again reconnect; if a member of my one, direct, mortal bloodline and a member of Ranimious' other mortal bloodline join, forming one of their own. Though distantly related, it shall matter not, just as it mattered not that Ranimious and I belonged to separate existences. Only a love between two such people, and a love strong enough to rival with that of ours shall be able to wield this power.

My darling descendant, if you are reading this, it means that all hope in true love is not lost! It means that it is a rare gift that you must treasure beyond all others. This stone shall be bound to you until it is necessary to use it. You will find that it enables you and dear Ranimious' descendant to communicate with each other with simply your thoughts. But you will also need to know this: that if he dies, you too shall die. And if you die, he shall too. Forever entwined, forever bound, I hope that neither of you shall have to suffer as I did when Ranimious perished.

Words are not necessary, wouldn't you agree? What are words when you have thoughts? So if circumstances arise in which your words may become a danger to yourself or your loved one, you shall no longer be able to speak. When the circumstance has righted itself, your voice will come back.

Use the power well. It is with this bit of closure that I leave you. Take it into consideration, take it to heart. And when the time comes, you will know exactly what must be done. It has been left only on this hand written recording left with a family I have deemed worthy to be our secret keepers, and implanted into a memory of a local psychic. In one of the two ways, you will find it.

"_A silent tear has fallen to Earth, but without its knowledge, it has no worth. The one who in their hands it lay, must be the one to use it that day. Without its glow to light the field, opposing forces shall not yield._ _A tear of love, a tear of hate, this single tear controls the whole world's fate. Will she offer her throat to the wolf with red roses, or will her mind freeze her from the drastic poses. Connected on a higher lever to the One, will she be willing to forever only live for the sun? The moon is a shadow, one that she cannot overcome, but before it is over, the two shall become one. Wisdom beyond her years swims through her mind, but the task at hand is not an easy one with which to bind. Never for evil, only for good, this power shall be used as I wish it would. Attempt to chance it, see what's in store. Doomed to destruction, the world, forevermore. The conception, a connection, an absolute must. For alone in this particular union, this purity I entrust. A tragic loss, a terrible cost, but without her power, all will be lost."_

The letters all faded away as Hermione read the last words. _That's the entire prophecy. _

The glow faded away from the parchment, and the beam of white light disappeared too. The only thing still glowing violently was the Tear. It floated gently back down to rest on Hermione's chest. When she turned to the boys, her eyes were vibrant and her cheeks were flushed.

The boys all looked flustered. "What were you playing at Mione?" Harry asked with a tone of annoyance. "We kept calling your name but you wouldn't answer, and then when we tried to get closer to you, there was some kind of barrier."

Hermione just shook her head and pulled out her marker board. But going over what all she had just discovered, she decided it would be much more times efficient to write it with a flick of her wrist… just the way that teachers made things appear on their boards at school. So she enlarged the board and did just that.

As the boys were reading, Hermione turned back to gather the papers and place them carefully back in the box. All the while the wheels were turning in her brain.

_So, Remus is the descendent of Ranimious, and I'm the descendant of Artimpassa AND Ranimious! Snape only heard part of the prophecy, because Dumbledore pulled it from his mind. Wait… What is Snape blocked select pieces of it? Let's see, what was left out of the original back when we heard it at Grimmauld? Doomed world, powers used as she'd want them, conception is vital…_

_Wait a second, CONCEPTION? As in… a child? But they have Remus locked away in prison… OF COURSE, that's the REASON! Snape knew Remus and I were together, he also knew we had to conceive in order for the Tear to work for our benefit. The world is doomed and the power will backfire if the Dark side tries to use it though… So they must only be trying to prohibit US from using it, believing that without it, we do not stand a chance! _

By this point the three boys had stopped reading and had turned back to Hermione, wonder apparent on their faces. Once again, Hermione cleared the board and wrote her new epiphanies on the board with the flick of her wrist. She felt the ridiculous sensation that she was a teacher and the boys were naughty students in detention. She laughed silently.

When the boys caught up, Fernandez was obviously the most shocked since magic as a whole was completely new to him. Harry looked as if he were still absorbing all the information slowly, but a grin was spreading across his face as he did so. Ron, however, seemed to notice something before the others.

"Hermione," he began slowly. "When was the last time…err…you and Lupin…" He had begun to turn bright red and had averted his eyes to the floor. "What I mean is, Hermione, could you have 'conceived.' ?"

At this, Hermione paled. She couldn't be pregnant, could she? But as she replayed the various times she and Remus had been intimate like that, she couldn't remember whether or not they had taken the proper precautions every time.

_There's only one way to find out… _She thought to herself.

So she took directions from Fernandez to find the bathroom. She had to pass through the door that Abulea was behind, and wasn't surprised to find her listening at the door crack. She smiled at the elderly woman, only to be glared at in return.

She found the bathroom easily. She looked at herself in the mirror. _Would it really be a bad thing? _She thought to herself. _You and Remus, fairytale lovers and descendants of the legendary Artimpassa and Ranimious Lupin? _

_Yes, it would be terrible! _Her other half was screaming. _We're in the middle of the war! If your child wouldn't be a target, then I don't know what would be!_

So, with this internal battle raging, Hermione took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and cleared her mind. She slowly began reciting the incantation, (taught in Witch Weekly,) for a self pregnancy test. She felt a tingling sensation all over her body as the spell began its checking. When the tingling stopped, she was supposed to open her eyes. If she was pregnant, her entire body would be shooting off sparks of blues and pinks. If she wasn't pregnant, there would be silver sparks.

She opened her eyes, one at a time, and saw…..

A/N: OH NO… horrible little cliff hanger isn't it? Will I make her pregnant or not? Well, this chapter has been the biggest so far, both in length and in plot development. Let's see. I hope my Spanish isn't too horrible, sorry to anyone out there if it is! Also, veelos don't exist, I looked everywhere for a male version of veelas, but can't find them, so I created veelos. Also, I couldn't stop messing with the little old grandmother, my bad! I liked making her. Planning on updating soon! 


	23. Parental Consent

Disclaimer: Only plot is mine!

Harry, Ron, and Fernandez had been sitting awkwardly together for 10 minutes waiting on Hermione to reenter the room. A telephone rang in another part of the house. Muttering under his breath in Spanish, Fernandez left the room to answer it.

Ron broke the silence.

"What do you think she'll do if she is…err… you know?" Ron asked Harry quietly as they both stared at the door.

"I don't know mate. This IS Hermione Granger; I'm sure she'd be as bloody brilliant at being a mum as she is at everything else." Harry replied slowly. "But, on the other hand, I'm fairly certain that she never planned on having a child at 18 or 19, so I don't know what her reaction would be."

Harry was desperately trying to remain open-minded, but inside his stomach was churning. After all, it had only been 2 weeks since he stopped thinking he was in love with her; he was therefore entitled to a little lingering possessiveness, (even though she was never really his to begin with.)

This train of thought was interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Both Harry and Ron's heads snapped back up to stare at the door. Hermione slowly pushed the door open.

The boys leapt to their feet. As she crossed the small room, she stared straight ahead, never looking either of them in the eyes. She was very pale, was biting her lower lip, and looked to be on the verge of tears.

She threw herself at her friends, who immediately enveloped her with comforting arms. Since they were both much taller than her, they were having an eye to eye conversation.

_What the bloody hell does this mean? Is she or is she not?_

_I have no idea. What are we supposed to do? _

Hermione sat up and looked at each of them now. To their complete confusion, though the tears and frazzled hair, she was smiling. She rose and walked to her enlarged marker board. She cleared it with a flick of her wrist once again. Then she began writing on it slowly.

_What do you think, _she began, _of being called Uncle Harry and Uncle Wonwon? And of course being godparents…_

She turned to face them. Though she was all puffy and pink from crying, her smile was still radiant.

"You… you mean…" Ron stammered.

"You're… pregnant!" Harry finished for him.

She nodded her head vigorously.

Her best friends rushed to her.

"Harry, we're godparents!" was the first thing Ron said as he hugged first Hermione, then Harry.

"Blimey, a baby Mione?" Harry said, but it was obvious that he too was starting to get excited. He was getting past his queasy stomach and was looking at how happy Hermione seemed to be. "Is it a boy or a girl?"

_Boy._ Was the simple reply.

"HARRY! We can teach him to fly on one of those little tyke brooms that only rise 4 feet from the ground."

"And QUIDDITCH! He'll be an expert by the time he starts school. What do you think, Keeper or Seeker? Or maybe he'll be a Chaser; that way him and Ginny could Chase and Fred and George could be Beaters and we'd almost have a full team…" Harry rambled this all out; he was genuinely excited by this point.

"And there's Exploding Snap,"

"And Wizard Chess,"

"And…" but at this point both boys were brought back to reality by Hermione snapping her fingers vigorously. She stood with one hand on her hip and the other pointing at the board.

_Merlin, you would think that the two of YOU just found out you were having a baby… _But she was still grinning.

Both boys were slightly embarrassed at their rambling.

"Well Harry's the one who went crazy about Quidditch," Ron scoffed.

"At least I'm not 'Uncle WonWon…'" Harry retorted. But they both laughed.

"And in a way Mione, we kind of are. We're going to be there in this little bloke's life every step of the way, isn't that right Harry?"

Harry of course agreed.

_I'm glad you're both so excited! That means so much to me. _

Just then, Fernandez came back in the room. He looked at Hermione for a response to her test. When she nodded her head enthusiastically, he rushed forward, started to hug her, thought better of it, and shook her hand instead. (Ron was rubbing Hermione's stomach like a fool and she was pushing him away with a giggle.)

At this point, Harry's mind wandered once again. All of this baby talk was making him think of his parents… and the godparent talk was making him think of Sirius. Looking around at his friends, seeing the split second of joy they were having in the middle of a war, rekindled something deep within Harry. The combination of all of these things redoubled his determination to defeat Voldemort. He had to do it.

Not for the entire wizarding world, not because of some stupid prophesy.

But for THIS.

For this utter happiness.

For a secure life for baby Lupin.

For a future of growing old with Sirius as a mentor. To avenge his parents. In hopes of one day seeing the look on Ginny's face that he was now seeing in Hermione's, and being able to share in it even more so than now.

In essence, for love.

XXXXXXXXXX

Shortly thereafter, the students decided they needed to go back to Hogwarts. Fernandez walked them out to the porch. The sun had long since disappeared, and the sky was now filled with crystal pinpricks.

"Listen, I know that I'm not magical, but if there's anything I can ever do to help you in this war, you know where to find me," he said with a voice full of sincerity.

"We will. And thank you for everything." Harry replied. "We will try to keep you updated too; I know how frustrating it is to get involved in this and then to be cut off from all news of the situation…"

Ron and Hermione looked at each other sheepishly; they knew Harry was referring to their lack of news updates while he had been stuck at the Dursley's.

With a last round of waves and handshakes, the Trio apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts.

XXXXXXXXXX

When they landed, it was the middle of the day. They were all exhausted by this point, but they rushed across the grounds and through the castle to their Head of House's office.

Harry only knocked briefly before opening the door.

McGonagall looked like she had been waiting on them. She offered them all seats, which they took gratefully. "So, what did you discover?" She asked anxiously as she straightened the papers strewn across her desk.

Harry and Ron launched into an outline of what happened, with Hermione interjecting the things they'd miss via her marker board. But neither the boys' words nor her writing justified what she had read, what she had felt, what she had seen.

Professor McGonagall seemed to be soaking in their every word. When they came to the part about Hermione being pregnant, the young girl blushed and looked at the ground as

Her teacher quickly hid her shock.

When they had finished telling her everything, she beamed as she said, "I am highly impressed with the amount of information you were able to retrieve. Fifty points to Gryffindor to each of you!"

She paused and grimaced at them in apology before continuing. "However, I must now take away those 150 points and ask you to return to your commonrooms for the remainder of the day and night; I convinced Alb…Severus, that you had done something that warranted two days of suspension and a 50 point loss apiece. When he asked what the offence was, I told him that I would personally not wish to discuss the matter, and that I had taken the initiative to suspend you because he himself was so busy."

At this, she rolled her eyes. "He believed me because he had no reason not to. But if any of you were to be seen wandering the castle when you are supposed to be at the Burrow, he would be full of questions I am sure."

They nodded their heads in understanding, and then used her fireplace to floo to Hermione's rooms. Harry and Ron plopped down on the couches and within minutes, had fallen asleep.

This left Hermione to her own thoughts._ I'm really pregnant. With Remus' baby. I have to tell my parents, but how?_

Then Hermione's eyes grew very wide as she realized something: she had not told her parents she was dating anyone, much less someone their age! How were they going to react to her suddenly being pregnant?!?

She decided that there was no time like the present to fill them in.

_Dear Mum and Dad,_

_Hello! I haven't spoken to you since Christmas, how are things at home? I have some things to talk to you about, do you think you could meet me tonight at The Leaky Cauldron in London? I think it would be best to discuss it in person. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Just meet me there at 8 tonight, ok?_

_Love, 'Mione _

She put her quill down with a sigh. She was extremely tired, but she had to get this letter sent off. So she crept over to Harry and pulled the invisibility cloak out of his jacket.

He mumbled something incoherent, but he didn't wake up; he instead just rolled over to face the other direction.

Hermione covered herself with the Cloak and crept out of her portrait. At first she was surprised to find the Gryffindor common room deserted, but then she remembered that it was the middle of the first day of school after the break, so everyone else would be in class. She quickly made her way up to the owlry and called Hedwig down. She didn't seem to mind the extra trip; she nipped Hermione's hand playfully as she attached the letter to her leg.

When Hermione finally made it back to her room, she could barely feel her legs and her eyes would barely stay open. She vaguely noticed that the boys were still asleep on her couches, so she made her way to her bedroom. By this point, it was 2pm. She kicked off her shoes and dove into bed, but not before setting her alarm to wake her up at 7:00pm so that she could get cleaned up to meet her parents.

She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

XXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Albus, Sirius, and Remus were still being held captive. The full moon had come and gone. The Deatheaters had put Remus in a separate room for this on Voldemort's orders; he seemed to need to keep all three of the prisoners alive for various reasons, and preferably not have any new werewolves created. But the private cell was the extent of the Dark Lord's hospitality; Remus had not been given Wolfsbane, and thus he had endured the worst change he could remember having in a very long time. The men were also subjected to a lot of torture; as long as the Deatheaters were amused by it, the torture would continue.

Their wands had obviously been confiscated. However, this was not the problem; in fact, all three of them were skilled in wandless magic. But a heavy set of spells had been placed on their cell by Lord Voldemort himself, and it prohibited any magic being performed in there.

"What is this, 4 days now?" Sirius whispered. He sat crouched in a corner, drawing pictures in the dust. Besides the obvious filthy state he was in, he didn't look like this imprisonment was affecting him. Heck, compared to Azkaban, this was a piece of cake!

Albus sighed, but did not look like this imprisonment was affecting him either. He had learned patience in all of his years, and despite his initial shock at having been kidnapped by Severus and Tonks, he seemed ridiculously optimistic.

Remus, however, was not handling the situation well at all. Having not spent 10 years in Azkaban, and not being a very optimistic person anyway, he was in shambles. He paced the room, stood up, squatted down, tried time after time to use wandless magic…

"We have to get out of here! We have to get back home, I have to get to Hermione, I just know that something has happened, I can feel it." What he was referring to was the fact that he was unable to communicate with Hermione telepathically anymore. The first two nights, he could do it, but now he couldn't, and it was worrying him to death. The only other time that he hadn't been able to reach her had been when she was on the brink of death…

"Don't the two of you want to get back to help fight? Don't you want to be able to help Harry, to help them all?" He pleaded frantically.

Albus sighed once again. "Of course we do, but as I see it, we are stuck here until we get unstuck by someone else, be it our side or Voldemort's. If you can think of a way to get out, I would be happy to listen to it."

This silenced Remus. The truth was that he knew Dumbledore was right. He had spent every waking hour trying to figure out a plan of escape, but couldn't find one. Oh the washed out 'attack-the-guard-when-he-brings-food' gig passed through his mind a few times, but he quickly disregarded them; he knew that Voldemort wouldn't be fooled so easily, he probably had several Deatheaters just waiting for something like that to happen.

Remus sank down to the dirt floor and closed his eyes. He tried to contact Hermione, he tried to speak to her, to hear her, anything. But it still would not work. His eyes began to burn dangerously, and he quickly blinked his lashes to keep the tears from coming out.

XXXXXXXXXX

Hermione was awakened by her alarm promptly at 7:00pm. She showered, dressed in muggle attire, and pulled her hair into a bun that she hoped would make her look mature.

She scribbled a note to the boys telling where she had gone and left it laying on Harry's stomach.

As she walked to her fireplace, she made the quick decision to floo straight to the Leaky Cauldron. She had momentarily contemplated stopping to ask McGonagall for permission, but she would more than likely be turned down, and she absolutely had to speak to her parents that night.

She scooped up a handful of floo powder, stepped into the fireplace, and then realized something: she couldn't speak to say 'The Leaky Cauldron' to floo! She decided that it must be able to work by just thinking it, and then decided to test her theory. It worked.

The ride had been rougher than a typical floo trip, but she attributed that to the 'only thinking the word' part. As she tumbled out of the fireplace, she immediately put one hand to her stomach and the other to her mouth. She felt nauseous, and like the room was spinning.

_Note to self. Pregnant women should avoid traveling by floo powder. _She thought.

After a couple of moments, she straightened herself and, though still pale, walked over to a table in the corner to await her parents.

They arrived momentarily. She was smothered in hugs and kisses before she finally got them to sit down and relax.

The bartender hustled over to ask if they wanted anything to eat or drink. Both of the older Grangers ordered food and drinks, but Hermione was still queasy so she settled on just a glass of water.

"So honey, what is it that you wanted to talk to us about?" her mother asked. She had asked it casually, but Hermione noticed how her mother's eyes were taking in her appearance, and were full of concern. Her dad too looked apprehenscious.

She remembered that had left her markerboard back at the school. So, she pulled out her wand and transfigured the napkin dispenser into one and a fork into a marker. Her parents tried to act like they weren't impressed, but they did a poor job of hiding it.

Hermione wrote: _Well first off, I have no voice at all so I will have to write everything on this. _When her parents nodded, she continued. _I suppose I should begin with this: I have a boyfriend. _She waited to judge their reactions before going on.

Her mother beamed at her, but her father's eyebrow shot up.

"Well is that all? Darling, that's completely normal, did you not think we would approve of you dating? It's about time, I say."

Hermione smiled nervously, and then continued. _He's really wonderful. He's very smart; I think he was the top of his class actually…_

Her dad caught this part as soon as she had written it. "Oh. So he's older?" he smirked at his wife as he narrowed his eyes. "How much older?"

Hermione gulped. _Well actually, funny story. He's…about 35. But before you make any judgments, just know that this relationship has been completely two-sided and consensual. _

By this point, her dad was a deep shade of red and her mother was at a loss for words. Hermione decided to plunge ahead. _Also, you need to know that he's a werewolf. Now that I think about it, I'm sure I mentioned him to you back when he taught at the school… how it was unfair because he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we'd had, and then he stopped teaching because of his condition. Does Remus Lupin ring a bell?_

"HE's a TEACHER at you school?!?" He dad exploded.

_Was a teacher. And before you say anything, we were not involved with each other at that point in time, I promise. Anyway. Remus is a very important member of the Order, and was one of Sirius' and James' (Harry's dad's) best friends in school. You would both love him, if it weren't for the age thing, I know it! Now, for the bigger news…_

She paused to wipe the board clear. _I'm pregnant. _

At this, her mother fainted and her dad threw his glass across the room. Hermione had tried to prepare herself for this reaction, but it still hurt. She jumped up from the table, turning her chair over in the process. She ran to the bathroom, leaned against the wall, and sank to the floor before she let the tears pour freely.

An unknown amount of time passed before she felt a hand lifting her up gently. She let herself be led back to the table, and when she sat down, she saw it had been her mother.

Her father was already back in his place, a new glass in his hand. He still looked furious, but at least he was acting civilized.

"Hermione, your father and I want you to know that we are surprised and disappointed in you, but we love you, and if you are okay with this, then so are we." She smiled gently as she took Hermione's hand from across the table. "Are the two of you planning on getting married?"

At this, the teen broke down again. What with all of the war stuff, and all of the Tear stuff, she hadn't even had time to think about marriage! But of course, it only made sense. They were deeply in love, and now they had a baby on the way…

She took this as the chance to fill in her parents on all of the Tear history. She tried to keep them updated with all of the Deatheater and Voldemort developments, and with the general Order doings, just so they felt involved and so they would be more prone to trust her. But she hadn't filled them in at all about the Tear; they'd never even heard of it before.

After the better part of an hour, she had finished. She sat back tiredly, and absent mindedly began running her hand over her stomach, waiting for their reply to all she had just told them.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Then her dad said, "That's it, we need to get you back home where you belong this instant! We…"

But her dad was interrupted by her mum. "Mione, who's side of the family is supposed to be traced back to Artimpassa?"

Hermione was taken aback, not so much that her mum had asked the question, but because she didn't know the answer. She wrote that she had no idea.

Her mother pursed her lips in a very 'Hermione' way. She took a deep breath, and said, "Well. You need to be getting back to the castle, it's getting late. Keep us updated as often as possible, and we will see you soon."

Neither Hermione nor her father had been expecting this reaction. "But Jane, we have to bring her home, she's dating a guy our age, she's pregnant, and now she's one of the primary targets for this evil guy to wipe out before he takes of the magical world!"

"That's precisely why we have to let her stay there. She has to, or they will lose. She would never forgive us if all of those people there that she loved were killed because of her disappearing."

They stood up, and once again hugs and kisses went all the way around. Both of her parents held on to her longer and tighter even than usual, but eventually she pried them off.

'I love you!' Hermione mouthed.

She hurried to the fireplace now; it was nearly midnight and she had classes in the morning. When she saw the floo powder, she got sick again, but she stepped into the fireplace anyway, threw down the powder, and was engulfed in green flames.

When Hermione landed in her common room, she found the boys were still asleep there. She hurried to her own bedroom, changed into pajamas, and went straight to bed.

A/N: Sorry, kindof long, and not terribly interesting. But I realized that Hermione's parents knew absolutely nothing about all the recent developments in their daughter's life, so they had to be filled in. Also, I realized we hadn't seen our favorite prisoners in a while either, so they had to be visited. Next chapter coming soon, and hopefully it'll be more exciting.


	24. Baby's Daddy?

Disclaimer: Only plot is mine, the rest belongs to our own goddess, J.K.Rowling

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hermione was awakened the next morning by the smell of hot chocolate, the annoyed shouts of Ron, and the hysterical giggles of Harry and Ginny.

She rolled out of bed carefully; her head was spinning like mad! She slipped on her red house slippers and matching robe and then went to investigate the commotion in her common room.

"You could have told me that the bloody thing was going to be hot before handing it to me!" Ron muttered to his sister and best friend. He wiped his hands with a towel and then stooped to wipe up the mess of hot chocolate and shattered coffee mug.

"Well, I didn't think you were so dense that you wouldn't realize that after pouring boiling water into a cup, it would be hot!" Ginny laughed.

"Seriously, I think you dropping that mug was the fastest I've ever seen you move," Harry joined in the fun. "Maybe if you'd played Quidditch like that last year…"

Harry was saved from Ron's inevitable fury by a quiet voice coming from the doorway. "You know, there's a spell you could use to clean up that mess, Ronald."

All eyes in the room immediately turned to gape at Hermione. Even her own eyes were wide and her hand flew to her mouth.

"You can talk again?" Ron asked with confusion.

"Ron, we just heard her." Harry said, though he looked puzzled as well.

"I…I guess so!" Hermione beamed. "I was just kind of mumbling to myself, silently obviously, and then it actually came out as sound again…" She looked amazed. "This is wonderful!"

"Yes it is!" Ginny said shrilly as she clapped her hands together. "Now, drink some of this hot chocolate, then go get a shower and get dressed. Professor McGonagall will be here in an hour to talk to us all." Then, as an afterthought, "And you can finally talk back!"

"I can, and I sure will have a lot to say."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the teens passed the following hour watching Hermione's television. They had to turn the volume up very loud in order to drown out her shower singing, but they did so gladly; the tradeoff was worth it.

When Hermione finally rejoined them, she looked like a new woman. She hadn't taken this much time with her appearance in ages! But she was in a fabulous mood, and her appearance reflected as much.

Professor McGonagall arrived right on time, (of course.) As she stepped out of the fireplace, she was surprised by a warm "Good morning, Professor," from Hermione.

The professor sat in a chair across from the couch where the four students had plopped down. They all began to talk, but obviously Hermione knew what she was talking about more than the rest, so they let her have the spot-light: after all, the entire parent fiasco was HER story.

Once Hermione had recounted everything that had happened with her parents, McGonagall beamed. "It is really wonderful that your parents are being so understanding. And your mother is very wise, for what she said is true: we need you in order to be able to win this war. Harry will take care of Voldemort, but without you and the Tear…"

Hermione smiled weakly at Harry. "Wow, this is only a taste of what you've had to live through the past 5 years, and I feel more overwhelmed than I ever have in my entire life."

She rested a hand on her belly protectively as everyone else glanced from one another in silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day passed by slowly. However, the four students were so exhausted after their globe-trotting that they didn't even get a case of cabin fever. Ginny still pouted a bit at having been left behind on the epic journey, but shrugged it off when Hermione suggested that they make ice-cream sundaes. They all played cards and wizard chess, took naps, watched television, and almost constantly discussed the situation at hand.

"Why do you think that your voice came back, Mione?" Ginny asked through a mouth full of ice-cream.

"I've been trying to figure that out too. Artimpassa said that if I were put in a situation where my talking could be harmful to mine and Remus' lives, then I would lose the ability to do so. I wasn't able to talk the entire time I was back at Grimmauld, where anything I said could have been overheard by Tonks or Snape. But then again, I couldn't talk at first here either… but I'm just attributing that to a delay in the effect of the Tear at the moment. What do you think?"

There was silence for a moment, but Harry spoke up. "I think that you're on the right track," he began slowly, "but I don't buy the 'delayed effect' of the Tear on you. I mean, this is magic. How often does magic go wrong when done correctly? No, I don't think that just leaving Grimmauld made you able to talk again. I think that it was something else… but what, I don't know."

Ginny spoke up. "All I know is that we need to figure this out, and fast."

"We will…. Things are going to work out for us, things will be ok." Ron said, but it was only a half-hearted attempt at trying to make everyone feel better.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The following day, their "suspension" was over and they were to return to classes. They hadn't missed much information since they had only missed the first two days of post-winter holiday classes. No, the material wasn't the most irksome thing they had to deal with; it was their peers.

Every single student wanted to know why and how they had managed to get suspended before they had even gone to any classes yet. Some were surprised, but most seemed merely curious, especially since Hermione was Head girl.

"Come on Harry," Seamus whined during lunch, "you know I can keep a secret. What did you do?"

Harry caught Hermione, Ron, and Ginny's eyes and gave them a sly smile before answering. "We just…did a bit of traveling."

The four of them laughed.

The rest of the students didn't.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After classes ended, Hermione wanted to go to the library, the boys wanted to go outside, and Ginny wanted to catch up with her friends her own age. They all promised to meet back up in Hermione's common room in two hours time.

For Hermione to go to the library wasn't out of the ordinary. In fact, it was the norm. But this occasion was for an ulterior motive: her baby.

_Her baby. _

_Remus' baby._

_The great-great-great-…..grandson of the goddess Artimpassa and her mortal lover Ranimious Lupin._

The entire situation seemed surreal to her. As if the looming Great battle of the Wizarding world weren't enough to worry about, she was apparently a key part of the success of the war, AND her unborn child was as well…

And so she was going to the library. Her first goal was to find a way to see just how far along she was: because frankly, she was curious. It could only have happened over Christmas break… but magic could pinpoint the conception date (and hour!) whereas muggle means could only estimate.

As she strolled, deep in thought, she felt an arm slip gently around her waist. She looked up, automatically expecting Remus, but she instead found her face inches from Draco's.

She was surprised, but slid out of his embrace easily enough.

"What's with the new attentions, Malfoy?" She said, but only with half the malice that the same act would have received a year ago.

"Can I not pay a lovely woman the courtesy of acknowledging her beauty?" he said with a mock-hurt look on his face. She knew he was kidding, or… at least half kidding.

She sighed. "No really, Draco, what do you need?"

He plunged into his motive immediately. "Look. I have a favor to ask."

"I'm not doing your homework for you, Draco, I have enough going on with my own life…."

Anger flashed through his eyes, but was quickly replaced with annoyance. "I don't need you help with schoolwork, Granger, but with a girl." Hermione completely stopped walking at this point, and he explained himself. "What I mean is, Pansy won't leave me alone, even though I told her that I'm not interested anymore. And I thought that maybe if she thought you and I had something going on, she would take the hint and back off."

"But why me? Won't it kill your macho, pure-blood ego? And I'm sure there are several little Slytherin girls who would jump at the chance to date the Lord of the Young Death Eaters Association…."

His hand balled into a fist, but relaxed slowly. "First of all, there is no such association. Second of all, it needs to be you because if it were another Slytherin girl, well, an all out war could break out in the house, and that's just a messy situation. And Third, it won't hurt my reputation because my reputation is indestructible. If anything, it will raise yours, at least insofar as the Slytherins are concerned….Plus, the Head girl/Head boy thing is quite believable, given the fact that we were such splendid actors at Halloween." He paused to catch his breath. "So, will you do it?"

"What exactly do I have to do, Draco?" She was hesitant to comply, but found herself thinking it might not be impossible to deal with. Suddenly, a thought struck her. "And what's in it for me?"

Draco smirked. "Already thinking like the Slytherin princess, very good 'Mione. What's in it for you is that you'll stop being teased, and you'll stop being the 'hot girl who never has a boyfriend'. And being OFF the market automatically makes you more alluring to all of the other guys. They won't try anything because they're all scared of me, but they will definitely notice you for, as I said earlier, the beautiful creature that you are…" his hand came to her cheek, and she felt herself blushing. _Why am I blushing when Draco touches me?_ He dropped his hand. "As for what you have to do, easy, just act. Same as we've been doing all year, only, now we turn up the spice. What do you say?"

She was going to agree with him, but felt she had to clear one last thing up. "If I do it, the 'not teasing' thing anymore extends to Harry, Ron, and Ginny." Draco started to protest, but was interrupted. "Furthermore, they'll know that this is all an act; I won't have them thinking we're actually together, especially since I'm seeing someone else."

At this, Draco threw his hands up in exasperation. "Can you really not do anything on your own, do you have to run everything by them?" He then switched into a business-like mode. "But I agree to your terms. See you later, _dear_." He stressed the pet name, and she nodded in response. He turned on heel and left quickly, his robes billowing in a fashion very similar to Professor Snape.

_Snape._

_Remus._

_Baby,….library,….right. _

Shaking her head to clean it of all thoughts of what had just happened in the hallway, she turned the corner, opened the heavy wooden doors, and entered the library.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She found a spell that would tell her the exact time of conception, but it would take two months to prepare. She didn't want to wait that long. In the end, she found one that would just estimate how far along she was, and it would only take a couple of hours to brew.

Much better.

She gathered the ingredients from Snape's storeroom, (since he was no longer 'there' potions classes were temporarily cancelled and the room left unattended,) and headed to the one place that she had felt comfortable enough to brew a potion before: Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

She kicked open the door, and found it as abandoned as she had expected. As she sat the ingredients along the sinks in the center of the room, she shivered. The Chamber of Secrets entrance was here, and though the basilisk was gone, the place gave her the creeps anyway.

She had just added the powdered dragon claw when she heard the tell-tale splash coming from one of the stalls. Seconds later, Moaning Myrtle shot into the air, all squeals and giggles.

"Oh, it's just _you_." Myrtle said when she saw Hermione. "I was hoping that Harry had come to visit me…" she said with a far away look in her eyes.

Hermione rolled her own eyes and continued to brew the potion as Myrtle's nostalgia turned into depression.

"But of COURSE he didn't come visit me, Nobody visits meee…." She began wailing… or rather, moaning. She swooped down and sat beside Hermione, and 'cried' on her shoulder.

Hermione patted her on the back, even though her hand went straight through her. It was the thought that counted after all.

Myrtle sat up a little bit as a result. But it was at that point that she noticed the scrap of parchment in Hermione's lap: the list of ingredients and the instructions to brewing the potion.

She plunged her face down to read the list before Hermione could block her.

"A PREGNANCY timing potion?!?" Myrtle squealed in delight. "Miss Head Girl, miss Queen of the Golden Trio, Miss knows-everything-and-is-never-wrong, is pregnant? And she doesn't even have a steady boyfriend!"

Before Hermione thought, she blurted, "I have so got a steady boyfriend thank you very much." Then, with more dignity, and with an upturned nose she said, "and frankly Myrtle, it is none of your business if I'm brewing this potion or not; it might not even be for me!"

Myrtle gave her a skeptical look, but her excitement lessened noticeably. "Oh, no matter, I will find out soon enough." And with that, she dove into the sink drain.

Hermione shook her head, sighed, and continued to work on the potion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The instructions said that once the potion was completed, she could bottle it up and take it at any point over the course of the next week. She decided to take it sooner rather than later though, so she planned to do so that night when she was back in her room.

Since she had had to search for a potion and then brew it, she was late for the reunion in her own common room; she had actually forgotten all about it. When she entered her portrait, she was bombarded by her friends.

After she explained everything that had happened with the library and the potion, she brought up the Draco situation.

While she seemed to honestly be ok with it, her friends weren't.

"Hermione," Harry growled, "this is the son of one of the most powerful followers of my arch enemy…our arch enemy!" He reached up to straighten his glasses. "How can you be ok with this?!?"

"Really, he's scum!" Ron continued, pure rage apparent on his face.

"And he's not nearly as attractive as most people seem to think…" Ginny said with a look of distate on her face.

The boys ignored her shallow observation and still focused on Hermione.

"He really isn't as bad as he once was, I promise. And this is just pretend; it's not like anything real is going to happen here; I love Remus!" and if they were having any slight doubts, at that moment, they knew she was telling the truth.

"Besides," she continued, "he promised to leave us all alone if I helped him out with the Pansy situation. And all the Slytherins are going to hate this at first, so take some kind of guilty pleasure from that." She finished with a huff.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next couple of days were a blur. Hermione went about classes normally with the rest of her friends, but all the while she was worried about Remus, and trying to get in touch with him.

She never could.

She was horribly concerned for his safety, and also for Sirius' and Dumbledore's. She knew Remus was still alive,(even though she could not communicate with him,) because of what Artimpassa had written: that if one were to die, so would the other. Hermione was quite alive, wasn't she? Therefore, so was Remus.

Though he could be injured….

And she had no idea about anything concerning Sirius and Dumbledore….

She also wanted to tell Remus the news of the baby.

So her days went on, and slowly turned into weeks. By this point it was the end of January. Life seemed as normal as ever at Hogwarts, with the exception of two things, (which, in a warped twist of fate, were now paired together.) Draco, and the baby.

Hermione had taken the conception-detecting potion the afternoon that she had made it, as planned. It had worked perfectly. Once she took it, she was to take a quill in hand and a piece of parchment. And after exactly 2 minutes of it being in her body, her hand would write the approximate amount of months she had been pregnant all on its own. It did, and when she looked at it, the parchment read "December 20th." So by the end of January, she was a month along.

Besides the baby, she had to deal with the "Draco thing" as she and friends referred to it. At first, the entire school (students and teachers alike) were surprised at their new couplehood. But once they made it clear (thanks to their fabulous acting) that they were 'serious,' the surprise turned to impression and jealousy. They were quite an attractive couple, there was no doubt. And for them to have overcome such differences, both in heritage and personality, impressed everyone. It was a known fact at the school that Draco was one of the most 'desired' boys on campus. But now, (just as Draco had predicted) Hermione was one of the most desired girls. Now that it was seen that she was quite capable and willing to be part of the dating scene, the boys noticed just how pretty she was; they also ceased being annoyed by her genius and were instead awed by it.

That is, until news of the baby leaked.

Via Myrtle.

When Myrtle heard that Hermione and Draco were 'together', (which took a few weeks since she rarely left her bathroom,) she immediately assumed that the potion Hermione had been brewing was in fact for herself, and that the baby was the next generation of the Malfoys. She then took it upon herself to fly through the school, telling everybody that she saw. She did this giddily, thinking that this juicy piece of gossip would 'make people like her' as she confided to an uncaring Peeves.

Hermione was sitting in Herbology when she first heard the news. Her head snapped up when she heard two Hufflepuff girls whispering about "Hermione's little problem" and "what was Draco going to do, marry her?"

She felt herself color deeply, raised her hand, and asked for permission to leave class.

Normally, Professor Sprout would not let a student leave class for no apparent reason.

She was, after all, Hermione Granger.

So she let her leave.

Hermione gathered her things and rushed to Professor McGonagall's office, shooting daggers at anyone in the hall who dared look at her funny.

She was, after all, Hermione Granger, Head girl, and supposed mother of a Malfoy.

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So…. I edited this chapter a little bit. Nothing drastic though, so if you don't feel like re-reading you don't have to!


	25. Right Under Her Nose

**A/N: I Realize I started this story in 2005 and now it's 2009. I WILL finish it now though. Definitely. So pardon the poor grammar in the earlier chapters; my writing has evolved over the past 4 years, haha. Now sit back and enjoy!**

When Hermione got to her Head of House's office door, she threw it open without knocking. Luckily, her professor was there at her desk writing a letter. She was startled by Hermione's brash entrance, and consequently she jumped, her quill slipped on the parchment, and the letter was ruined.

She sighed as she crumpled up the letter. But when she looked up at Hermione's face, she knew something was terribly wrong. She didn't even have time to ask before her student began ranting.

"Moaning Myrtle saw me making a 'time of conception' a few days ago. Then, when she heard that Draco and I were an item, she flew around the school telling every living and dead being she saw that I was pregnant with Malfoy's baby!" She threw her hands up in the air and began to pace the room. "The Draco relationship is fake, as you obviously know. But how am I supposed to convince the entire student body that I am not carrying his child? And if they find out I'm carrying someone else's, they'll want to know who the father is. And if it somehow leaked that the father is Remus…" she paused as she choked back tears, "then an entire scandal will happen. The little trust the students' parents have in him, being a werewolf and all, will be shattered. I will be the knocked up 7th year girl. And Dumbledore could get in trouble for knowing… you could too! I just don't kno.."

McGonagall held up her hand to interrupt. "My dear. Do not for one second worry yourself over Dumbledore's or my own reputation; we will take that in stride if it ever becomes an issue. But if the Battle ends in our favor, people will be much too happy with us all, including you and Remus, to participate in that sort of gossip. And if it doesn't end in our favor…"

"Then there's nothing to worry about since most of us will be dead." Hermione finished with a shudder.

McGonagall looked at her and winced. "Precisely."

"Well what do we do in the meantime about the Draco rumors?"

Minerva thought for a moment. "We'll simply pretend it's all a lie. That you're not pregnant at all. Moaning Myrtle simply assumed the potion was for you, but in 'reality' you were just being yourself and practice a new potion. I'm positive that there are spells to create false negative pregnancy tests. It is the end of January, so by the end of school you'll be about 5 months along. And I'm also positive there are spells for concealing pregnancy; a partial invisibility spell. They work best in the first 4 months, but in the 5th month they at least will help; and your robes will conceal what little is noticeable. It will all be fine, Hermione. "

Hermione was so relieved to hear all of this that she ran around the desk and hugged her professor. She felt a bit awkward when she pulled away; hugging McGonagall or Dumbledore always had that affect on her.

Dumbledore!

"Professor," Hermione began slowly. "Is Snape, I mean, "Dumbledore" on the grounds?"

Minerva was confused by the random question, but replied "Why no, he's not been here for days. He said he had business to attend to 'with the Ministry.' I pretended to take him at his word, because that's what I would have done with the real Albus, as Snape well knows."

"Don't you see? That's why I got my voice back! Artimpassa said that I would lose the ability to speak when my words could be a danger to myself or Remus. And apparently, with Snape gone, me speaking isn't life threatening! So that means when he comes back, I'll lose it again… But that's ok, since now I understand. That was frustrating me to no end!" She actually smiled.

"Why of course, that makes perfect sense! Now I need to rewrite that letter. You go back to your classes. Ignore the students' gossip. Talk to the Gryffindor girls, convince them it's a lie and promise to take a test soon to prove it. I'll get those spells to you by tonight. The girls will see the negative results, and tell other people, and this will all be resolved in a few days."

"Alright. And thank you for all of your help." She waved as she exited the room.

"Of course dear." _I only wish I could help you more. _

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Herbology was over, and so Hermione went straight to the Great Hall for a late lunch. She tried to ignore all of the stares and whispers as she walked by the tables to her usual spot beside Ron and Harry. She did a pretty good job at it too, but it was difficult. She wasn't used to being the source of gossip. And everyone, EVERYONE was in on the gossip. Even Harry and Ron were pulled in; that is to say, they were trying to tell people it wasn't true.

She plopped down with a sigh beside Harry and leaned her head on his shoulder. He patted her head. She sat up and they all three began to eat. Once they finished, they decided to go back to her rooms for privacy. Nobody said a word to them in the halls.

When they got there, she told them of her discussion with their Head of House. The boys were noticeably relieved, and seeing them calm helped to calm her.

"So, with that ordeal figured out, where do we stand?" Ron asked.

"I am positive that we don't have very much longer. Voldemort is very excited lately, and angry at times." Harry responded as he rubbed his scar. "And I think that we are close too… close to figuring this whole Tear thing out. We know so much more now than we did before Christmas break!"

"Now if only I knew how to use it to help you…" muttered Hermione. "UGH!" she sighed in exasperation and she lay her head down on the kitchen counter.

Ron, who was just as easily distracted by muggle items as ever, had picked up a magnifying glass and was examining everything on the counter. His hand, an apple, a fork, Hermione's hair, Hermione's necklace…

Hermione's necklace!

"Bloody hell!" He screamed as he leapt into the air. The other two looked at him like he was crazy.

"What are you… OW!" Hermione squealed as Ron yanked her up by her necklace. He held the Tear under the magnifying glass, and twisted it around and around in circles.

Harry caught on quickly. "It says something, doesn't it?"

"It sure does," Ron gulped.

The Trio, all bent tightly together over the necklace, all looked each other in the eyes.

"Well, what does it say?" Hermione prodded as she licked her lips nervously.

"It says: _If you have followed me thus far my descendant, if you have read my message and know your responsibility, then by the light of the full moon I shall come to your aid the moment you join your true love, a Lupin, forever in the pains and joys of my power_. _Only after this ultimate sacrifice can he then remove the necklace. Only once the necklace is removed will I assist you. The ability to do this, and your conception, will be the ultimate proof to me that love exists in this world._"

"It says all of that?" Hermione was confused. How had she never seen the writing before?

"It was, kind of swirling around in the Tear. Look yourself." And he handed her the magnifying glass.

She saw everything he did. When she put the glass down, she realized that the swirling of the color that she had always admired in the Tear had been the message all along. It had always been with her. And had it not been for Ron and his obsession with muggle things, she may never have seen it.

She threw her arms around him and kissed him all over his face.

"Woah…" he said as he pushed her off with a laugh, "I thought Remus didn't want you kissing your friends anymore?"

She slapped him playfully. Then, she noticed Harry's face. He was pale and staring at the ground.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Seeing his expression, Hermione's became somber… and she was scared.

"Didn't you listen to what the Tear says?"

"Yes, that because I'm pregnant, because Remus and I are in love and want her to help, and when he takes the necklace off of me, she will be here to help us. The goddess Artimpassa is going to help us win!" She was so relieved to finally have an answer, to finally understand how being Artimpassa's descendant and being in love with Remus was going to summon the goddess and help Harry beat Voldemort, that she had done a very un-Hermione like thing and overlooked a detail.

"Hermione, you're skipping a part. The part about a full moon, and ultimate sacrifice, and 'joining your true love forever in the pains and joys of her power'."

"So?"

"SO? If it's a full moon the night of the battle, which it apparently will be since she said "by the light of the full moon," then what does that mean?"

"That we can see outside better?" Ron joked.

"No…" Realization dawned on Hermione.. "It means that Remus will be… transformed. But if he is supposed to remove the necklace from my neck, then…

Harry averted his eyes, because if he saw the expression on her face when she put the pieces together, he knew he would cry.

"Then he will be in wolf form. He'll use his teeth." Ron realized.

"And?" Harry said gently.

"And he'll bite me!" Her eyes grew huge. " I have to become a werewolf too! That's how we'll be joined under both love and the moon forever. And THAT is the reason I could die: Remus could lose control and kill me!" She started laughing and crying simultaneously.

"Remus… I…. love…. Him" she said between fits of laughs. "It's him. He could KILL me. REMI!" she began laughing uncontrollably.

Harry and Ron walked her to the couch. When she lay down, the laughter soon gave way to sobs that shook her entire body. After hours, she had exhausted herself. Ron and Harry were sitting on the floor in front of the couch, holding her hand and stroking her hair and back the entire time. The last thing she said before she fell asleep was "He doesn't even know about the baby…"

Once she was asleep, Harry realized something else. He whispered, "Ron. If Voldemort keeps Remus locked away until the battle, they're not going to give him any Wolfsbane that night. His mind won't be his own, and he'll.... he'll...."

"Not have any control over what he does." Ron finished for him. He gulped. Both boys stared at their beautiful friend on the couch in silence.

**A/N: AHHH so I re-read this story and got back into it  Sorry it's been so long; I'm sure my old readers will have given up on me by now. But hopefully this will put the story back on the map and old and new readers alike will enjoy it. 3**


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